The village(s) can trace there origins back to and before the period of the Domesday Survey of 1086  (King William 1 -of the Conqueror) when as King's Land it was known by the name of Reinham. The land was in the custody of Godric, Roger Bigot, Reynald Fitzlvo (Boteric) and Hugh de Montfort. At the Survey 3 mills and a salt house were noted.

West Raynham  adjoins Raynham Park  and is approximately five miles southwest of Fakenham. At the Survey Roger Bigot had an area of land referred to as a Manor, this was a unit of territory in those days. When his daughter Maud married the Kings chief butler, William de Albiney the Manor passed to William and he was known as William de Reynham .

Successive de Reynhams  obtained lands including a Bartholomew  in 1249; Olive  in 1291 and a Robert held certain tenements and land in Reinham South in the year 1306. The tenant was required to pay 20d. per annum for all services. About 1400 the Manor was in the hands of a family called Sherborne and was known as the Manor of Sherborne.

In 1603 the Manor was passed to the Sir John Townshend  who died at the Manor of Sherborne. This Manor was united with other Manors within the area.

East Raynham  straddles the A1065 Swaffham to Fakenham road and is about four miles from Fakenham and is part of Raynham Park , the main entrance gate to the Park and Raynham Hall  is located in the village. 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 these were given to Hugh de Montfort by William the Conqueror.

Later the lordship of the lands was divided and held by the families of Inglethorp and Scales. [1]

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 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 an 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 and he 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 duelling in 1603.

South Raynham  like East Raynham  straddles the A1065 and has only a handful of houses to its name and is located one half mile south of East Raynham . Below is an extract from a modern Ordnance Survey map locating the villages, Raynham Park  and the Hall as well as a South Raynham road sign.

During Edward the Confessor's time the land was held by Uluiet but by the Domesday Survey it was being farmed by Godric for the King and was later known as Havile's Manor.

A William de Lisewis in about 1160 founded a small priory, in the reign of Henry II, it was known as Normannesberch Priory.

Henry de Havile was lord in 1233 and controlled land known as Havile Manor, as a falconer to King Henry III he paid 40s. per annum in rent. There was a dispute in 1301 between a Thomas de Havile, Thomas Inglethorp and Lord Scales. The latter two having pulled down a pillory which de Havile had erected for the execution of justice.

Inglethorp and Lord Scales declared that de Havile held only one third part of the town and they were also lords of the town. They also stated that de Havile had not erected the pillory on his land but on common ground.

By 1409 the Havile Manor along with others was in the lordship of a Robert Scoggan and in 1420 his daughter Maud married Walter de Townshend. Thus the Townshend family became possessed of the Manor. When John Townshend died in 1465 Havile Manor became united with the Inglethorp Manor at East Raynham .

William de Lisewis founded the Normannesberch Priory in 1160 in honour of St. Mary and St. John the Evangelist; his son Godfrey gave further support to the monks by way of the Church of South Reinham. The Priory was granted to the Duke of Norfolk, who when he died in 1534 passed to Henry VIII, in 1564 during the reign of Elizabeth I Sir Roger Townshend  had lordship of all the lands.

Raynham Hall , a rectangular mansion, built of brick and stone dressings is the seat of the Townshend's and is considered to be one of the finest mansions in the county of Suffolk. Built near the site of a more ancient moated Manor House, the ruins of which can be seen today, Sir Roger Townshend  constructed it under the direction of either Inigo Jones or Sir Roger's mason William Edge. Work commenced in 1619, during the reign of James I and completed around 1630 in the reign of Charles I.

The modern day photograph of the south elevation and an earlier close up photograph of the west front of Raynham Hall  can be seen below.

Sir Roger was created a baronet in 1617 and succeeded by his brother Sir Horatio Townshend and created Viscount Townshend of Rainham  in 1682. He was a favourite of Charles II, who visited Raynham Hall  in 1671.

The 2nd Viscount Charles Townshend had the interior reconstructed by William Kent around 1720-30, the 2nd Viscount was also responsible for the large-scale cultivation of turnips in England. He became known as "Turnip Townshend ".

"Turnip" [2] was Secretary of State to Sir Robert Warpole during the reigns of George I and II. In 1713 he married, for a second time, Sir Robert Warpole's sister Dorothy who tradition says, was forced into the marriage against her will.

Her ghost is said to haunt the grand staircase at the Hall and at her birthplace at Houghton. She is known by the name of "Grey Lady of Raynham " and by others as the "Brown Lady" [3] . Below is alleged to be a photograph of the "ghost".

The story goes that the ghost of her was first seen in 1835, when a houseguest claimed to see a phantom wearing a brown satin dress, noting that her eyes had been gouged out.

It is said that on the 16 September 1936, a Mr Shira and a Captain Provard were photographing the interior of the Hall, when Mr Shira saw an indistinct figure moving down the old staircase. Captain Provard could not see the figure but had time to take the photograph.  Experts have agreed that the ghostly image was faked by compositing two images together.

Following a row with Sir Robert Warpole he retired from office and died at Raynham Hall  in 1738. He was succeeded by his son Charles. On Charles's death in 1764 his eldest son George succeeded him, who was created the Marquis Townshend. Today the heir to the Raynham Hall  is the Viscount Charles George Townshend Raynham , born on the 26th October 1945 the eldest son of the 7th Marquis of Townshend [4] .

There are three churches in the Raynham villages, St Mary at East Raynham , St. Martin at South Raynham  and the ruins of St. Margaret at West Raynham . St. Mary is built of cut flints, with freestone dressings and is of mixed styles of architecture.

St. Martin is a handsome building, built of flint with freestone dressings, in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles of architecture. St. Margaret's was known to be in a poor state as far back as 1733.

In St. Mary's Church various Townshend, de Vere and Havile memorials and heraldry are present. There are no memorials of importance at St. Martin's Church.

Today it is possible to walk along public rights away on the Raynham Hall  estate, with its attractive mix of woodland, water meadows, well-wooded arable land and old buildings. To assist the public an excellent free publication is available covering The Raynhams, [5] and provides some background historical information on the area as well as some interesting walks around the villages.

The present Viscount Raynham is not unknown to the public, appearing for the wrong reasons in tabloid newspapers, the most notable being the Mail on Sunday . In their 25 August 1996 edition, the Mail reported that the Viscount Raynham had been declared bankrupt over a ?3,250 debt.

And in an earlier report of the 13 September 1987 his affair with an heiress and the birth of his alleged child was the subject of Nigel Dempster's diary column.

At this stage of research there are no known connections with any Raynhams who were settled in the county of Suffolk.