Blofield is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Broadland Broadland is a local government district in Norfolk, England, named after the Norfolk Broads. Its council is based at the Broadland Business Park on the outskirts of Norwich. The district includes the towns of Acle, Aylsham, Reepham, Spro ...

district of the English county of

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

. The parish includes the village of Blofield and the hamlets of Blofield Heath and Blofield Corner. Blofield is located five miles (8 km) east of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

and west of

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

History

Blofield's name is of either

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

origin and derives from either from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

for 'a blue field' or from the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

for 'an exposed field.' Blofield is listed in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

as a settlement of 61 households in the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

of Blofield. In 1086, the village was divided between the estates of William, Bishop of Thetford and Ralph de Beaufour. There are two 17th century barns in Blofield: Church Farm Barn on Church Road and Manor Farm Barn on Yarmouth Road. In the 18th century, Blofield was a centre for brick making and the manufacturing of tiles. There are numerous historic, listed cottages in Blofield. These include the 18th century "Little Timbers" on Danesblower Lane, 'Beech House' on Church Road, "Owls Barn House" on Lingwood Road. As well as the 19th century "The Rookery" on Church Road, 'Turrett House' on Yarmouth Road, 'Hollybank' on Yarmouth Road, 'The White House' on North Street and Blofield Court House, built in 1905.

Geography

Blofield is bracketed by the courses of the River Bure to the north and the River Yare to the south. Though it no longer runs directly through the village, the A47, between

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

and

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the List of extreme points of the United Kingdom, most easterly UK se ...

, still runs through the parish. According to the 2021 census, Blofield parish has a total population of 4,087 people which demonstrates a steep increase from the 3,316 people listed in the 2011 census.

Church of St. Andrew and St. Peter

Blofield's parish church is dedicated to Saint Andrew and

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

, and was constructed in the 14th century. The church has one of the largest towers in

and was significantly remodelled in the 19th and 20th centuries; despite this an ornate, carved

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

survives dating from the 15th century. There is a stained-glass memorial to Margaret Gordon Harker designed by Clayton and Bell with further designs by Hardman & Co., J. & J. King, Kempe & Co. and Ward and Hughes. The Church of St. Andrew and St. Peter has been Grade I listed since 1962.

Amenities

Village amenities include the recently reopened and refurbished ''Kings Head'' public house, Blofield County Primary School, a doctors' surgery, a library, scout hut, newsagent,

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...

, fish and chip shop, florist, hairdresser, an outdoor leisure and camping store, a farm shop and a solicitor's office. Sporting and social facilities are also provided by ''Margaret Harker Hall'' and ''Blofield Court House'' constitute the meeting place for a number of village groups; these include the Women's Institute (which was formed in 1918 and claims to be the oldest in Norfolk), Guides, badminton club, slimming groups and playgroup for children of pre-school age. The Court House also hosts regular film shows showing recent releases, usually on the first or second Friday of every month. Blofield Heath has one Indian restaurant, ''The Tamarind'', and a post office/convenience store. Heathlands Community Centre is a focal point for social activities. The village has a primary school, Hemblington County Primary. A pre-school playgroup also operates from Heathlands.

Transport

Blofield is served by the no. 15 ''Green Line'' bus route to Brundall,

Wymondham Wymondham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the South Norfolk district of Norfolk, England. It lies on the River Tiffey, south-west of Norwich and just off the A11 road (England), A11 road to London. The pari ...

and Silfield; it is operated by First Eastern Counties. Buses operate hourly during the day; there is no service in the evenings, but there is a limited service as far as Norwich on Sundays. The nearest stations are and , both located approximately a mile away; there are regular services to , and , which are operated by Greater Anglia.

Sport

Blofield has a tennis club founded in May 1924, with three grass courts and two hard court open to members. Tennis coaching and courses run by LTA licensed coaches for adults and juniors. Open club sessions and teams in mens, ladies and mixed leagues. Blofield has two Non-League football clubs: * Norwich United, who play in the Anglian Combination Premier Division. Their home ground is at Plantation Park, just outside the village centre but within the parish. * Blofield United, who play in the Anglian Combination First Division. Their home ground at the Margaret Harker Hall playing field in the centre of the village.

Notable people

* Sir Arthur Borton – Governor of Malta 1878-1884 was born in Blofield in 1814. * Darren Eadie – former football player who played for Norwich City and Leicester City. *

John Edrich John Hugh Edrich, (21 June 1937 – 23 December 2020) was an English first-class cricketer who, during a career that ran from 1956 to 1978, was considered one of the best batsmen of his generation. Born in Blofield, Norfolk, Edrich came from ...

– England Test cricketer from 1963 to 1976, was born in Blofield in 1937. * John Emms- (1844-1912), English artist born in Blofield * Ken Brown – Norwich City manager from 1980 to 1987. * Robert McKelvie- (1912-1996), English cricketer, born in Blofield. * George Tuck- (1843-1920), English cricketer and lawyer, lived in Blofield * Roland Robertson- (1938-2022), Anglo-American sociologist, born in Blofield

Governance

Blofield is part of the electoral ward of Blofield with South Walsham for local elections and is part of the

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

. The village's national constituency is Broadland and Fakenham, which has been represented by Jerome Mayhew of the Conservative Party since 2019.

War Memorial

Blofield's war memorial is located in the Churchyard of St. Andrew and St. Peter. It takes the form of a granite cross and was erected in 1920. The memorial lists the following 32 men for the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

: And: Philip S. Barber, Percy H. Hall and William Turner. The memorial also lists the following names for the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

: *

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk Broadland