In 1868 Norton was described as a parish in the hundred of Blackbourn, county Suffolk, 3½ miles S.E. of Ixworth, 7 N.E. of Bury St. Edmund's, its "post town, and 2½ N.E. of Elmswell railway station. The village, which is of small extent, is chiefly agricultural. It is a meet for the Suffolk hounds. There are excavations still remaining where Henry VIII dug in search of gold.