[1] He was the grandson of Sir Francis Blake, Knt., of Cogges, Oxfordshire, who acquired Ford Castle, Northumberland on his marriage to Elizabeth, née Carr, and who purchased Twizell Castle, Northumberland, in about 1685; and was the son of Sarah, daughter of Sir Francis of Cogges and her cousin Robert Blake of Menlough (1697–1734).
He inherited the Twizell Castle estate (subject to his father's life interest) on the death of his grandfather in 1717.
[2] After his father's death in 1734, he moved out of Twizell Castle and settled at Tillmouth House nearby.
He and his son embarked on a costly and ambitious project to build a new castle on the Twizell site.
In his will, Blake left £60 for the creation of a monument to his son in the West Cloister of Westminster Abbey.