Blakeney, Norfolk
Historical Description
Blakeney, a small seaport and a parish in Norfolk. The seaport stands on a natural harbour of its own name, 5½ miles NNW of Holt station on the Eastern and Midland railway, and 7½ E of Wells station on the G.E.R., and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Dereham. It was anciently called Snitterley, and it got the right to a market in the time of Henry III. A Carmelite monastery was founded at it about 1295, and given at the dissolution to William Rede; and some remains of the edifice, including several fine arches, are still standing. John de Baconsthorpe, who was styled " the resolute and subtle doctor" held a place in the monastery, and rose to be head of the English Carmelites. The parish church, on an eminence a little S of the town, is a curious flint structure, in Early and in Later English; has a lofty embattled tower, which serves as a mark to mariners in taking the harbour; and contains a fine ancient font, three sedilia, and remains of a screen and stalls. It was restored at a cost of over £6000 in 1883-87. There are Primitive Methodist and Wesleyan chapels. The harbour has a dangerous shifting bar, yet serves well both for commerce and for shelter. The chief export is corn; the chief imports are coal, timber and deals, oilcake, and manure. The parish comprises 1432 acres of land, with 1048 of foreshore and water; population of the civil parish, 807; of the ecclesiastical, 974. The living is a rectory, united with the rectory of Glandford and the rectory of Cockthorpe and Little Langham, in the diocese of Norwich; gross value, £500 with residence. Patron, Lord Calthorpe.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Norfolk | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Blakeney St. Nicholas, St. Mary, and St. Thomas The Apostle | |
Hundred | Holt | |
Poor Law union | Walsingham |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Norfolk Record Office, have images of the Parish Registers for Norfolk online.
Findmypast, in conjunction with Norfolk Record Office have the following parish records online for Blakeney:
Baptisms | Banns | Marriages | Burials |
---|---|---|---|
1548-1902 | 1548-1902 | 1565-1901 | 1538-1901 |
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Blakeney from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Blakeney (St. Nicholas, St. Mary, and St. Thomas The Apostle))
Maps
Online maps of Blakeney are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Norfolk newspapers online:
- Norwich Mercury
- Norfolk Chronicle
- Diss Express
- Thetford & Watton Times and People's Weekly Journal
- Norfolk News
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitations of Norfolk 1563, 1589, and 1613 is available on the Heraldry page.