In the Doomsday Book of 1085, Blakeney is recorded under the name Esnuterle. The main landholder is Walter Gifford along with William de Noyers. Blakeney was formally called Snitterley and the settlement is first formally mentioned as Blakeney in a document which dates from1340.
Around the same period the then King Edward III’s wife, Queen Philippa is said to have dined on fish caught by Blakeney’s fishermen. From the 12th century Blakeney had a reputation for acts of piracy: between 1328 and 1350 it is recorded that men of Blakeney boarded two vessels from Flanders and sailed them back to Blakeney haven, where they were stripped of their cargoes. Many a foreign merchant ship which sought shelter in the haven found its cargo stolen. Such was the lawlessness of the residents of Blakeney that the village refused to supply a ship for the battle against the Spanish armada