East Raynham, Norfolk Genealogy

England   Norfolk   Norfolk Parishes

Parish History
RAYNHAM, EAST (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Walsingham, hundred of Gallow, W. division of Norfolk, 4½ miles (N. E.) from Rougham.

East Raynham St Mary (or Rainham St Mary) is an Ancient Parish in the Toftrees deanery of the diocese of Norwich.

The village can trace its origins back and before the Domesday survey of 1086 when it was known as Reinham.

In the reign of Edward the Confessor, 1042-1066, the village was in the hands of a wealthy Saxon by the name of Bond. Later the Saxon was deprived of the lands and William gave the Conqueror these to Hugh de Montfort.

Later the lordship of the lands was divided and held by the families of Inglethorp and Scales. Land known as Scale's Manor was originally part of the Hugh de Montfort lordship it passed to the family of Scales following an alliance with the Lisewises. It remained in the family until the daughter of Lord Thomas Scales, married Earl Rivers. Lord Scales was beheaded in the reign of Richard III, 1483-1485.

The King gave the lordship to a John Howard, who was created first Duke of Norfolk for his services to Edward IV, 1461-1483 and during his own reign. It again reverted back to the Crown and remained so until 1538 when Henry VIII granted it to Sir Roger Townshend and became part of the Inglethorp Manor. The largest of the Reinham Manors, Inglethorp was held in the family of Inglethorp as early as the reign of King John, 1199-1216 with a Robert de Inglethorp being referred to as far back as 1140. In about 1200 Richard de Inglethorp was granted the Priory of Normansberch, through his marriage to the daughter of William de Lisewis.

In 1288 the Manor included a windmill, the Church of East Reinham and a rent income of 14 pounds per annum. Around 1420 Thomas de Inglethorp married into money and inherited vast estates in Norfolk and Yorkshire. His son died without a male heir and thus passed to his only daughter in 1456, who by now was a heiress. By 1518 the Scale's Manor was in the lordship of Sir John Huddleston and was sold by his son and heir John to Sir Roger Townshend in 1543. Sir Roger was the Judge of the Common Pleas. Sir Roger died in 1550 and is buried in the chancel of St. Mary Church, East Raynham.

The Townshend family in 1630 built Raynham Hall; in the intervening period the family had seen battle against the Spanish Armada, the siege of Cadiz and a death by dueling in 1603.

The church stands in the park of Raynham Hall. It was rebuilt in 1868 but retains the 15th century Easter Sepulchre. The 2nd Viscount, " Turnip " Townshend is buried here. He was responsible for introducing into England the cultivation of turnips on a large scale and for other improvements of the kind. He died at Raynham on 21 June 1738.

Townshend introduced to England the four-field crop rotation pioneered by farmers in the Waasland region in the early 16th century. The system (wheat, barley, turnips and clover), opened up a fodder crop and grazing crop allowing livestock to be bred year-round, and increased productivity by avoiding leaving the soil uncultivated every third year. Previously, a three-year rotation was practiced by farmers in Europe with a rotation of rye or winter wheat, followed by spring oats or barley, then letting the soil rest (leaving it fallow) during the third stage. Crop rotation is necessary in order to avoid the build-up of crop-specific soil pests and diseases, and because different families of plant have varying nutritional requirements. The four-field crop rotation was a key development in the British Agricultural Revolution.

As a result of this, and other agricultural experiments at Raynham, he became known as Turnip Townshend. Although a figure of some fun, his agricultural reforms were extremely important. However, Alexander Pope mentions him in Imitations of Horace, Epistle II, as a turnip obsessed person and says, in a note, that "that kind of rural improvement which arises from turnips" was Townshend's favorite conversational topic.

In 2002 the ring of eight bells was restored and augmented. The The Queen paid a private visit to the church in July 2002.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.


 * Walsingham 1837-1938
 * Fakenham 1939-1974

The Register Office, Fakenham Connect, Oak Street, Fakenham, NR21 9SR. Tel: 01328 850111. E-mail: registration.fakenham@norfolk.gov.uk

Church records
parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Images of the parish registers may be viewed online in FamilySearch Historical Records Norfolk Record Office reference PD 369

East and West Raynham, Norfolk have combined registers in the image collection.

Census records


Poor Law Unions
For more information on the history of the workhouse, see Peter Higginbotham's web site: www.workhouses.org.uk and http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?Walsingham/Walsingham.shtml

Walsingham Union was incorporated under the terms of the 1834 Act, and the union workhouse was built at Great Snoring, but not completed until 1838. The Walsingham Union Workhouse at Great Snoring was opened in 1838. It was situated close to the boundary between the parishes of Great Snoring and Thursford and was sometimes known as Thursford Workhouse. Poor Law Unions were abolished in 1930 and the responsibilities of Walsingham Union Board of Guardians were taken over by Norfolk County Council Guardians' Committee No. 7. From 1930 the former Workhouse became known as Walsingham Public Assistance Institution. On 26 and 27 June 1934 the remaining thirty inmates (including two infants but no children) were transferred to West Beckham and Gressenhall Institutions and Walsingham Institution officially closed on 30 June 1934. The building was subsequently adapted for use as a smallpox hospital. By 1976 the building was derelict and was demolished in the early 1990s.

Acquisition Received by the Norfolk Record Office on 26 February 1982 (C/GP 19/192-198) and on unknown dates.

Copies C/GP19/1-6, 131, 133-135, 137, 141, 143-146, 148, 150-151, 173-181 are on microfilm.

RelatedMaterial For records of Guardians Committee No. 7 (including the administration of Red House Children's Home in Little Snoring and the boarding-out of children), see C/GC 7. See Public Assistance Sub-Committee minutes, 11 July 1934 and 12 September 1934, C/C 10/455. The records of the County Architect's Department include plans of the alterations for use as a smallpox hospital dated February 1937, see C/AR 1/29-31. The one inch to one mile Ordnance Survey Map of 1954 designates the building 'smallpox hospital'.

Norfolk Poor Law Unions

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Norfolk Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites

 * East Raynham on GenUKI
 * Parish Info
 * British Listed Building
 * British History online
 * Norfolk Churches website