Francis Blomefield
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7d/Frontispiece_An_Essay_Towards_a_Topographical_HIstory_of_the_County_of_Norfolk_Francis_Blomefield.jpeg/220px-Frontispiece_An_Essay_Towards_a_Topographical_HIstory_of_the_County_of_Norfolk_Francis_Blomefield.jpeg)
Rev. Francis Blomefield (23 July 1705 – 16 January 1752),
Origins
Francis Blomefield was born in the parish of
Career
Blomefield was educated at the
As a boy of 15, Blomefield began recording monumental inscriptions from churches he visited in Norfolk,
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Norfolk_Hundreds_map.svg/220px-Norfolk_Hundreds_map.svg.png)
In July 1733, Blomefield published his proposals for An Essay towards a Topographical History of Norfolk. While collecting information for his history, he discovered some of the Paston Letters. By 1736, he was ready to begin putting the results of his researches into type,[3] assisted by his friend Charles Parkin, Rector of Oxborough.[10] At the end of 1739, the first volume of Blomefield’s History of Norfolk was completed; it was printed using his press at Fersfield, acquired for the purpose. The second volume, consisting of a detailed history of Norwich, was begun in 1741 and completed by 1745.[3] The production of this volume took more than four years, and Blomefield seems to have lived in the city while it was being printed.[1]
In 1751, Blomefield published Collectanea Cantabrigiensia, his Cambridgeshire notes. A fire is said to have destroyed the press and printing room, along with all the copies of his first volume, forcing Blomefield to start his work again.[1]
He encountered many problems with his printers and engravers, and temporarily lost his notes for the volume about Diss Hundred when they were sent away for correction.[1] He was two-thirds through his third volume of the history of Norfolk and had covered about 40 per cent of the county, when he contracted smallpox on a visit to London and died in Fersfield in January 1752.[3]
Marriage and issue
On 1 September 1732, Blomefield married Mary Womock, daughter of Rev. Lawrence Womock, Rector of Castor by Yarmouth in Norfolk and Vicar of Buxton, a cousin of
Succession
In 1871, Blomefield's property – worth more than £7000 – was inherited by a distant cousin, Rev. Leonard Jenyns, a clergyman and naturalist. It included 140 acres (57 hectares) of land near the town of Diss in Norfolk. As a condition of inheritance, Jenyns was required to change his surname to Blomefield.[citation needed]
Completion of the History of Norfolk
The history of the remaining areas of Norfolk was completed by Blomefield's friend, the Rev. Charles Parkin in 1753–1765, but not in Blomefield's detailed and accurate manner. The remainder of volume 3 and two further volumes were published in King's Lynn between 1769 and 1775. The entire work was subsequently reprinted in 11 quarto volumes by the London publisher William Miller in London between 1805 and 1810.[11]
According to Rye, Parkin died before the volumes were sent to be published – they had to be completed by "some bookseller's hack" in King's Lynn.[1]
Assessment
Blomefield's History of Norfolk was both detailed and largely reliable and comparable with the best county histories of the period. There is little doubt that in compiling his book Blomefield had frequent recourse to existing historical collections of the antiquary Peter Le Neve, John Kirkpatrick of Norwich and the Bishop of St Asaph, Thomas Tanner, his own work being to some extent one of expansion and addition, despite some extensive collections of his own.[3]
According to Rye, writing for the
David Stoker, writing for the revised
Hassell Smith and Roger Virgoe in 1994 saw Blomefield's History "one of the great county histories and... still the only major history of Norfolk.... [T]he volumes on Norwich still remain the fullest account of the development of the institutions and antiquities, secular and ecclesiastical, of the city."[2]
Works
An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk containing a description of the towns, villages and hamlets, with the foundations of monasteries, churches, chapels, chantries, and other religious buildings, and an account of the ancient and present state of all the rectories, vicarages, donatives and impropriations, their former and present patrons and incumbents with their several valuations in the king's books whether discharged or not; likewise, an historical account of the castles, seats and manors, their present and ancient owners together with the epitaphs, inscriptions, and arms, in all the parish churches and chapels with several draughts of churches, monuments, arms, ancient ruins and other relicks of antiquity collected out of ledger books, registers, records, evidences, deeds, court rolls and other authentick memorials.
11 volumes published by William Miller, 1805–1810:
- Volume 1, London, 1805 (Hundreds of Diss, Shropham and Guiltcross)(archive.org text) [1] (British History Online text) [2]
- Volume 2, London, 1805 (Hundreds of Grimshoe, Wayland and Forehoe and Borough of Thetford) 2 (archive.org text) [3] (British History Online text) index] [4]
- Volume 3, London, 1806, The History of the City and County of Norwich, Part 1 [5] (British History Online text)
- Volume 4, London, 1806, The History of the City and County of Norwich, Part 2 [6] (archive.org text)] [7] (British History Online text)
- Volume 5, London, 1806, Hundreds of Depwade, Earsham, Henstead and Humble [8] (archive.org text) [9] (British History Online text) index [10]
- Volume 6, London, 1807 (Hundreds of South Erpingham and South Greenhoe)[11] (British History Online text)
- Volume 7 (by Charles Parkin), London, 1807 (Hundreds of Brother Cross, Gallow, Blofield, Clackclose) [12] (archive.org text) [13] (British History Online text) index [14]
- Volume 8 (by Charles Parkin), London, 1808 (Hundreds of Clavering, Eynford, Freebridge and North Erpingham) [15](archive.org text) [16] (British History Online text) index [17]
- Volume 9 (by Charles Parkin), London, 1808 (Hundreds of Freebridge, Happing, Holt, Launditch and North Greenhow [18](archive.org text) [19] (British History Online text) index [20]
- Volume 10 (by Charles Parkin), London, 1809 (Hundreds of Launditch, Loddon, Mitford, Smethdon and Taverham)[21] (archive.org text) [22] (British History Online text) index [23]
- Volume 11 (by Charles Parkin), London, 1810 (Hundreds of West Flegg, East Flegg, Walsham and Tunstead) [24](archive.org text) [25] (British History Online text) index [26]
Notes
- ^ No true portrait of Blomefield exists. The portrait of Flamsteed was included as the frontispiece to the first volume of the quarto edition of An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk (1805), with an appropriate disclaimer.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rye 1886, p. 226–228.
- ^ a b Smith & Virgoe 1994, pp. 282–283.
- ^ a b c d e f Chisholm 1911.
- ^ Blomefield 1805, pp. 92–93.
- ^ a b Blomefield 1805, p. 101.
- ^ Rye 1886, p. 226–28.
- ^ Blomefield 1805, p. 100–01.
- ^ "Blomefield, Francis (BLMT724F)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
- ^ a b c Blomefield 1805, pp. 100–101.
- ^ "Parkin, Charles". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
- ^ Stoker 2019, pp. 224–230.
- ^ Stoker 2004.
Sources
- Blomefield, Francis (1805). Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk. Vol. 1. London: W. Miller. OCLC 4343091.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Blomefield, Francis". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 76. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- Rye, Walter (1886). "Blomefield, Francis". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 5.
- Smith, Hassell; Virgoe, Roger (1994). "Norfolk". In Currie, C. R. J.; Lewis, C. P. (eds.). English County Histories: a guide. Stroud: Alan Sutton. ISBN 0-7509-0289-2.
- Stoker, David (2004). "Blomefield, Francis (1705–1752)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2663. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Stoker, David (2019). "Reprinting Blomefield's 'History of Norfolk'". Norfolk Archaeology. 48: 224–230.
External links to works
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