Blomefield Letters
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Aberystwyth University The correspondence of the reverend Francis Blomefield 1705-1752 Stoker, David Publication date: 1992 Citation for published version (APA): Stoker, D. (1992). The correspondence of the reverend Francis Blomefield 1705-1752: Edited and with an introduction by David Stoker. Norfolk Record Society . 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Sep. 2021 HOW FRANCIS BLOMEFIELD BECAME THE HISTORIAN OF NORFOLK. Background For two decades Francis Blomefield compiled and published the fascicles of what might have been the greatest, and most comprehensive topographical history of any English county,1 but he was still a long way from achieving his object when, in January 1752 at the age of forty-seven, he died of smallpox. By then he had completed work on ten of the thirty Norfolk hundreds and two of the four main boroughs. The history of Norfolk was subsequently completed in a less thorough manner than Blomefield would have wished, but this does not lessen his achievement, nor make it any less remarkable that a project of this scale should have been initiated and undertaken at this time by an unknown country clergyman. The story of just how it was that Blomefield came to be the historian of Norfolk is a complex one in which the co-incidence of a number of unrelated events played an important part. Unlike the major early county historians, Blomefield was a man of no great position in his native county. Carew, Burton, Thoroton, Chauncy, and Atkyns had all been established and wealthy members of the gentry in their localities, whereas Blomefield remained essentially the rector of a small and obscure country parish. The Blomefields had been natives of Fersfield in South Norfolk for at least a century and a half before the birth of Francis in 1705,2 and appear to have been successful farmers and landowners on a modest scale. During this period their standing gradually increased from yeomen to minor gentry, but there were no connections with the nobility and the family was never entitled to bear a coat of arms.3 The historian's father, Henry Blomefield, was the only surviving son of John Blomefield, yeoman. A judicious marriage to Alice Batch of Kings Lynn had added to his small estate and provided him with a sufficient income to bring up a family secure from want. He was however ambitious, both to increase his family income by buying more land, and to raise their social status. He determined to provide Francis, his first son, with the education and occupation befitting a gentleman of limited means, and so in 1708 he purchased the next presentation to the rectory of Fersfield, which living was to be accompanied by a modest landholding (settled initially on his wife, and only at her decease on the young man).4 The education of Francis for the cloth began at nearby Diss, with his attending classes run by the local rector, John Briars. At about the age of nine he was sent to the better established Grammar School in Thetford, where he remained for ten years under the tuition of the Reverend John Price. From Thetford, he was BLOMEFIELD CORRESPONDENCE 78 admitted sizar to Caius College Cambridge in April 1724, at a time when standards at the University were particularly poor.5 In spite of this, the young man was fortunate in having an exceptional tutor, James Burrough, who encouraged his taste for scholarship and introduced him to the more scholarly members of the University. Francis took his B.A. in 1727 and qualified for his M.A. in the following year. In March 1727/8 he was duly ordained deacon, and sought temporary clerical appointments until such time as he might succeed to the Fersfield living. Initially he was appointed curate to a family friend, James Baldwin, rector of Quidenham. In July 1729 he was ordained priest and instituted into the rectory of Hargham which he held for six months until another family friend, John Hare, could take up office.6 Before this period had elapsed, the plan made by Henry Blomefield in 1708 came to fruition following the death of John Barker, rector of Fersfield, in September 1729.7 Henry and Alice Blomefield therefore had the satisfaction of seeing their son as rector of their village at an early age. The purchase of the living had, however, placed a heavy burden on the family and involved it in debts which would take some time to re-pay. Alice Blomefield died shortly after her son's institution and was buried by him 19th March 1729/30.8 Henry lived for a further two years when he unexpectedly succumbed to small-pox, before he had the opportunity to make good the depleted family finances. At his death in May 1732 he owed considerable sums on land as well as £300 borrowed for his son's education and living.9 The estate was well able to meet these debts but it would have left inadequate provision for the younger children, particularly as a significant part of what remained was already guaranteed to Francis under the terms of the marriage settlement. Henry Blomefield had to consider a further four children; his daughters Elizabeth and Hester and his younger sons Peter and John. The daughters were twenty-four and eighteen years old respectively and in need of a dowry. The sons were seventeen and sixteen years old and would soon have equal need for finance or for land to be able to support themselves. The father was therefore forced to require, in his will, that Francis should take on some of these debts in order to protect the interests of his other children. The estate was capable of paying these debts in time but as a result Francis Blomefield's legacy fell short of the original fairly modest aspirations of his father. The twenty-six year old rector was left with a relatively poor living and some lands in the parish, but at the same time he was saddled with liabilities. He was by no means a poor man and had the resources to live a quiet and comfortable life if he chose, but at the same time he could not have been described as a rich man. Thus Blomefield's background and financial position made him an unlikely candidate to devote his life to the history of his native county. However he did benefit from a profound interest in, and aptitude for, the study of antiquities which had been fostered by his tutors. BLOMEFIELD CORRESPONDENCE 79 The young historian A fascination with the past was perhaps first transmitted to the young Francis by his Thetford schoolmaster John Price. At about the age of fourteen, Blomefield began to visit local churches to make notes on their fabrics, and record monumental inscriptions in the fashion of John Weever.10 By 1720 he was using any opportunity for these visits, and he also began to record his activities and expenses, so that by 1733 he had spent £175-16s-0d over thirteen years on travelling, stationery, and the purchase of manuscripts.11 Blomefield's note to this effect in his Journal and letter-book does not indicate that he was planning a history of Norfolk from the age of fifteen, as these early notes were not limited to the one county. For example, he visited Bardwell church near Bury St Edmunds in March 1719/20 and spent several days on the Suffolk and Cambridgeshire borders in February 1724.12 Inevitably, with limited means he was making no systematic survey but combining his interest with any opportunities for travel which presented themselves. If removal to Cambridge University reduced the opportunities for visits to Norfolk and Suffolk churches, it also enlarged his horizons to the antiquities of a third county, and introduced him to the use of historical manuscripts and to individuals with like interests. One result of the poor tuition and lax discipline at the University was that the students had time for any interest or dissipation they might choose to follow. In the case of Blomefield, the young man's antiquarian instincts, the beneficial guidance of his tutor, or merely his lack of funds, led him to pursue his antiquarian hobbies visiting local churches,13 rather than any less reputable pastime. Now working from a base at the centre of a small county, he was able to do this more thoroughly and systematically in Cambridgeshire than was possible for him in Norfolk and Suffolk. During vacations he was able to continue his antiquarian visits to towns and villages in Norfolk and Suffolk as far apart as Newmarket, Norwich, and Yarmouth. One of his most noteworthy tours encompassed visits to Yarmouth, Gorleston, Lowestoft and the Roman station of Gariononum at Burgh Castle.14 On the way he stopped to make notes in the churches of a host of villages on either side of the county boundary in the area known as Lothingland.