Blakeney Guildhall

Blakeney Guildhall is a building in the coastal village of Blakeney in the north of the county of Norfolk. The property is in the care of English Heritage but is managed by the local parish council. Blakeney is just off the A149 coast road and is nine miles west of Sheringham. The property can be found in an alley just off the quay.
The building has always traditionally been called the Guildhall but nothing is known of its early history. It is likely to have originally been built for a prosperous medieval Blakeney fish merchant, the undercroft being used for storage of his merchandise. The building later became the guildhall of Blakeney’s guild of fish merchants. The Guildhall was once a two-storey building but now all that remains is the 14th-century brick-vaulted undercroft. It is divided into two aisles by a row of stone piers which support the ribbed vaults of brickwork. The doorway and the windows are all original. The bricks, no doubt, were locally made and are typical of their period, being of variable shape, quality and appearance. For this reason brickwork of this period was often plastered over. The main building was entered from higher ground on the southern land side of the building. A projection at the south-east corner contains the shute that served a garderobe or privy.

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