Place:Rackheath, Norfolk, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Rackheath is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England, which is roughly 6 miles (9.7 km) from Norwich city centre. It covers an area of 7.52 km2 (2.90 sq mi) and had a population of 1,551 in 625 households at the 2001 UK census, increasing to a population of 1,972 in 762 households at the 2011 UK census. For the purposes of local government, it falls within the District of Broadland.

The A1151 Norwich to Wroxham Road runs through the parish dividing it in two. There is a small settlement (originally known as Great Rackheath or Rackheath Magna) near the 14th century listed church of All Saints (redundant since the 1970s) to the north, and the now much larger settlement of New Rackheath (but originally known as Little Rackheath or Rackheath Parva) to the south. All Saints church has a 12th-century canonical sundial on the south wall. New Rackheath contains the modern (1959) Holy Trinity Church as well as the 1930s art deco style Sole and Heel public house, which is situated in the part of the village known locally as Slipper Bottom (or Slipper's Bottom).

Rackheath was the location of a Second World War USAAF base, the most easterly and therefore the nearest to Germany of all British wartime airfields. Near the village sign on Salhouse Road, next to the gate of Holy Trinity Church, is a memorial plaque to the 467th Bombardment Group, which consisted of four squadrons who flew B-24 Liberators from the base in support of the Allied advance across Europe.

Research Tips

• GENUKI provides a list of references for Rackheath. Some entries lead to free online transcriptions of registers and censuses.
• GENUKI also supplies a map illustrating the individual parishes of Taverham Hundred. Parishes labelled with letters should be identifiable from the Ordnance Survey Map of 1900.
• GENUKI also advises that the following lists for Norfolk are to be found in FamilySearch:

• England, Norfolk, Parish Registers (County Record Office), 1510-1997
• England, Norfolk Archdeacon's Transcripts, 1600-1812
• England, Norfolk Bishop's Transcripts, 1685-1941
• England, Norfolk Marriage Bonds, 1557-1915
• England, Norfolk Non-conformist Records, 1613-1901

• Ancestry.co.uk has the following lists as of 2018 (UK or worldwide Ancestry membership or library access required). With the exception of the index to wills these files are browsible images of the original documents. The files are separated by type and broken down into time periods (i.e., "Baptism, Marriages, and Burials, 1535-1812" is more than one file). The general explanatory notes are worth reading for those unfamiliar with English parish records.

• Index to wills proved in the Consistory Court of Norwich : and now preserved in the District Probate Registry at Norwich
• Norfolk, England, Bishop's Transcripts, 1579-1935
• Norfolk, England, Church of England Baptism, Marriages, and Burials, 1535-1812
• Norfolk, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1915
• Norfolk, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1990
• Norfolk, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1940

• FindMyPast is another pay site with large collection of parish records. As of October 2018 they had 20 types of Norfolk records available to browse including Land Tax Records and Electoral Registers.