Place:


Blickling  Norfolk

 

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Blickling like this:

BLICKLING, a parish in Aylsham district, Norfolk; on the river Bure, near the line of the projected railway to Cromer, 1¼ mile NNW of Aylsham, and 12½ E by N of Elmham r. station. Post Town, Aylsham, under Norwich. Acres, 2,123. Real property, £2,606. Pop., 392. Houses, 80. ...


The property is chiefly in one estate. The manor belonged anciently to the Crown; was given by the Conqueror to the Bishops of Norwich; and passed to the Dagworths, the Erpinghams, the Falstofs, the Boleyns, the Hobarts, and the Suffields. The mansion on it, in the time of Henry VIII., was the birthplace of Anne Boleyn, whence she married the king; and the present mansion, Blickling Hall, a seat of the Marquis of Lothian, was built in 1628 by Sir Henry Hobart, and is a fine specimen of Tudor architectureThe library measures 127 feet by 21, and contains upwards of 10,000 volumes; and the various rooms are enriched with numerous family portraits and other interesting pictures, and with statues of Queen Anne Boleyn and Queen Elizabeth. The grounds comprise about 1,000 acres; and contain statues from Oxnead Hall, a pyramid on a base of 45 feet square over the remains of John Earl of Buckinghamshire, and a fine lake, in form of a crescent, about a mile long. Charles II. and his queen visited the hall in 1671: and an old distich says,-

Blickling two monarchs and two queens has seen;
One king fetched thence, another brought a queen.

The living is a rectory, united with the rectory of Erpingham, in the diocese of Norwich. Value, £521.* Patron, the Dowager Lady Suffield. The church has a sculptured octagonal font; contains monuments and brasses of the old proprietors of the manor and of others; and is in a fair condition.

Blickling through time

Blickling is now part of Broadland district. Click here for graphs and data of how Broadland has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Blickling itself, go to Units and Statistics.

How to reference this page:

GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Blickling, in Broadland and Norfolk | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.

URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/5480

Date accessed: 29th March 2024


Not where you were looking for?

Click here for more detailed advice on finding places within A Vision of Britain through Time, and maybe some references to other places called "Blickling".