From the time of the Domesday book, the Blakedown (earlier Bleak Down) area formed part of Hagley Parish; originally it belonged to Clent Hundred and later to the lower division of Halfshire.

Even after the mills and forges were demolished, workers came from Lancashire and Cumberland for two months each year to cut the willows surrounding them for withies and clogs until the 1930s.

[4] Many of the village shops that used to serve this clientele have now closed, although a post office and general store remain, along with some other small businesses.

The snooker club that was established in 1904 has former World Billiard Champion and local resident Rex Williams as Honorary President.

In ancient times the Roman road between Droitwich and Greensforge ran just east of Blakedown and later developed into a saltway supplying the West Midlands.

[9] The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway opened a station at the edge of the village in 1853 on land made available by the Squire of Harborough Hall.

The timber-framed Harborough Hall was built in 1635 for William and Anne Penn on land that had belonged to the family since the reign of Edward III.

[16] Along the village street there are two survivals from the end of the 18th century, Castle Ash and Jack's Cottage (which now adjoins the Post Office).

Beyond the blacksmith on Belbroughton Road (which continued to be called by its old name of The Common for decades) there were the narrow plots of Victorian cottage developments, each with their peaked porch.

[18] By 1860 there were enough inhabitants in the village for the church of St James the Great to be built to a design by Gothic revivalist George Edmund Street.

In 1865 two Sunday morning services were held to accommodate the growing population and in the following year a rooftop wooden bell-tower was added (later renewed in 1915 at the same time as a new aisle and vestry were built).

Among the 20th century houses in the area, Knoll Hill along the Belbroughton road is notable for having been the former home of the show jumping champion Dawn Wofford.