Record Details

NHER Number:6133
Type of record:Monument
Name:Blakeney Guildhall

Summary

The remains of a 14th or 15th century flint and and stone house, probably originally a merchants house, which may have been used a guildhall later in the medieval period. The brick vaulted undercroft has survived in excellent condition, and the foundations of the walls are visible above ground. The remains are clearly visible on aerial photographs.

Images

  • The entrance to the vaulted brick undercroft of the Guildhall, Blakeney  © Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service

Location

Grid Reference:TG 0282 4406
Map Sheet:TG04SW
Parish:BLAKENEY, NORTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

Probably 13th century (or possibly 14th century) square flint building with pointed arch freestone entrance.
Vaulted brick interior.
Perhaps a mariners guildhall.
Drawing of undercroft in (S1).
R. R. Clarke (NCM)

(S2) adds 'some faint traces of wall paintings on plaster walls'.
These had gone by 1980s (S3).
Clearance of dumped soil from adjacent Mariners Hill revealed that blocked side doorway which gave rise to legend of tunnel to Walsingham or Binham is in fact access to formerly buried side projection and a possible stair turret.
Building was probably originally a ground floor storage undercroft.
Interior relimewashed in 1985.
Building dates to 15th century, and was originally a merchants house rather than a guildhall.
See (S3) and (S4).
E. Rose (NAU) 12 August 1985.

24 April 1994.
All limewash now removed from interior and brick vaulting revealed.
Rows of niches in internal faces of side walls between each vaulting shaft.
The side projection can now be seen to be a garderobe shaft from first floor level, but it also contains the base of a circular stair rising upwards from the first floor; so the building had two storeys above the undercroft, which must have been originally at ground level, not underground.
E. Rose (NLA)

(S5) suggests an origin as an almshouse or similar institution.
E. Rose (NLA), 2 September 2002.

January 2003. Norfolk NMP.
The remains/ruins of a probable Medieval Guildhall at Blakeney are clearly visible on OS 1995 (S6) and NLA 1990 (S7) and 1993 (S8) aerial photographs. It is located at NGR TG0281 4407. Only the undercroft of this building is surviving.
H. Clare (NMP), 22 January 2003.

Monument Types

  • ALMSHOUSE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • GUILDHALL (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • UNDERCROFT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Associated Finds

  • WALL PAINTING (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Protected Status

  • Scheduled Monument
  • Listed Building

Sources and further reading

---Record Card: Ordnance Survey Staff. 1933-1979?. Ordnance Survey Record Cards. TG 04 SW 5; TG 04 SW 12b.
---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
---Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1959. Secret room may have been found at Blakeney. 1 May.
---Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1985. Limewash upset at Blakeney Guildhall. 9 August.
---Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1998. Local control for Guildhall. 30 April.
---Monograph: Pevsner, N. and Wilson, B. 1997. Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East. The Buildings of England. 2nd Edition. p 398.
---Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Medieval. Blakeney.
---Secondary File: Secondary File.
---Slide: Various. Slide.
---Designation: English Heritage. 1990-2013. English Heritage Scheduling Notification. Notification. DNF171.
---Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1962. Public will see 14th century guildhall. 17 April.
<S1>Serial: 1956. History of Technology. Vol II. vol.II p.439 fig 400.
<S2>Designation: [unknown]. Ancient Monuments Form. SAM Record. DNF171.
<S3>Designation: English Heritage. 1994? -2011?. English Heritage Digital Designation Record. Record. DNF171.
<S4>Designation: Historic England. National Heritage List for England. List Entry 1373987.
<S5>Article in Serial: Wright, J.. 2002. Old Guildhall in Blakeney.. Glaven Historian. No 5. p 66.
<S6>Aerial Photograph: Ordnance Survey. 1995. OS/95567 125-6 21-JUN-1995.
<S7>Aerial Photograph: 1990. SMR TG 0244P-S (NLA 275/GEN10-13) 01-AUG-1990.
<S8>Aerial Photograph: 1993. SMR TG 0243G & TG 0244T (NLA 328/HFX22-23) 12-JUN-1993.

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