Fersfield is a village and former

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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

, now in the parish of Bressingham, in the

South Norfolk South Norfolk is a local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Long Stratton. The population of the Local Authority District was 124,012 as taken at the 2011 Census. History The district was formed on 1 April 19 ...

district, in the county of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, England. It was the home parish of

Francis Blomefield Rev. Francis Blomefield (23 July 170516 January 1752), FSA, Rector of Fersfield in Norfolk, was an English antiquarian who wrote a county history of Norfolk: ''An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk''. It include ...

, whose ''History of Norfolk'' documents the history of much of South Norfolk. In 1931 the parish had a population of 194. On 1 April 1935 the parish was abolished and merged with Bressingham.

Location

Fersfield is bounded on the east and south by the village of Bressingham; to the west are South Lopham and North Lopham and to the north

Kenninghall Kenninghall is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England, with an area of and a population of 950 at the 2011 census. It falls within the local government district of Breckland. Home to the kings of East Anglia, after the Norman invasion ...

. Historically, the parish marked the boundary of the hundred of Diss.

Name

Fersfield has been variously recorded as Fersevella, Fervessella, Ferefeud, Fairfeud, Fairvill, and Fersfell, all of which seemed to Blomefield to signify a Fair Fee, or Village. However, modern research suggests the more obvious etymology of 'a furze-covered field. The village was recorded 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

of 1086 under Fersfield.

Church

The church is dedicated to Saint Andrew, and dates back, at least in part, to the 12th century. It holds a plain

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

font and a painted wooden effigy of Robert du Bois.

RAF Fersfield

RAF Fersfield Royal Air Force Fersfield or more simply RAF Fersfield (originally known as RAF Winfarthing) is a former Royal Air Force station located southwest of Norwich, Norfolk, England. History Built in 1943/1944, the airfield was originally a satell ...

is a former

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

airfield located between Fersfield and Winfarthing which was closed after the war and briefly used as a motor racing track before being returned to agricultural use.

War Memorial

Fersfield War Memorial is located in the churchyard and holds the name of four men who died during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The memorial was unveiled in 1921 as a result of public subscription and was created by Messrs Cooley and Son. Historical England. (2017). Retrieved October 27, 2022. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1442287?section=official-list-entry It holds the following names: * Corporal Thornton Allum (1897-1917), 4th Battalion,

Royal Norfolk Regiment The Royal Norfolk Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army until 1959. Its predecessor regiment was raised in 1685 as Henry Cornwall's Regiment of Foot. In 1751, it was numbered like most other British Army regiments and named ...

* J. R. Hoskins * Private A. T. Vincent (d. 1917), 5th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment * Private Oscar E. Anderson (1896-1919), 7th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment

Notes

External links

{{authority control Villages in Norfolk Former civil parishes in Norfolk South Norfolk