Francis Blomefield

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Francis Blomefield (July 23, 1705 - January 16, 1752) was an English topographer of the county of Norfolk.

Francis Blomefield was born at Fersfield, Norfolk, the eldest son of Henry and Alice Blomefield, who were yeomen farmers. He was educated at Diss and Thetford Grammar Schools, and in April 1724 he was admitted Caius College Cambridge, where he graduated BA in 1727 and MA in 1728. On leaving University in 1727 he was ordained, rector of Hargham in 1729, and shortly afterwards rector of Fersfield, his father's family living. He married 1 September 1732, Mary Womack, rector they had three daughters, two of whom survived him.

As a boy Blomefield began recording monumental inscriptions from churches he visited in Norfolk, Suffolk and later Cambridgeshire. Whilst at College he also kept genealogical and heraldic notes relating to local families. Soon after leaving University he was collecting materials for an account of the antiquities of Cambridgeshire, but in 1732 this project was deferred when hew was given access to Peter Le Neve's huge collection of materials for the history of Norfolk. In July 1733 Blomefield published his proposals for Italic textAn essay towards a topographical history of NorfolkItalic text. Soon afterwards, while collecting further information for his history, he discovered some of the famous Paston Letters. By 1736 he was ready to put some of the results of his researches into type. At the end of 1739 the first volume of the History of Norfolk was completed. It was printed at the author's own press at Fersfield, acquired especially for the purpose. The second volume, consisting of a detailed history of Norwich was begun in 1741 and completed by 1745. He was two thirds through his third volume and had only covered about 40% of the county when he contracted smallpox during a visit to London, and died in Fersfield in January 1752. The remainder of his work was subsequently completed by his friend the Reverend Charles Parkin between 1753 and 1765 (albeit in a far less detailed manner than Blomfield had managed. The remaining sheets of volume 3 and two further folio volumes were published at King's Lynn between 1769 and 1775. The entire work was subsequently reprinted in eleven quarto volumes were later epublished in London between 1805 and 1810.

There is little doubt that in compiling his book Blomefield had frequent recourse to the existing historical collections of Peter Le Neve, John Kirkpatrick and Tanner, his own work being to some extent one of expansion and addition, although he did compile extensive collections of his own.