Place:West Raynham, Norfolk, England

Watchers
NameWest Raynham
Alt namesWest Rainhamsource: Family History Library Catalog
Reinehamsource: Domesday Book (1985) p 193
Reinhamsource: Domesday Book (1985) p 193
TypeParish (ancient), Civil parish
Coordinates52.785°N 0.779°E
Located inNorfolk, England
See alsoGallow Hundred, Norfolk, Englandhundred in which it was located
Walsingham Rural, Norfolk, Englandrural district 1894-1935
Raynham, Norfolk, Englandcivil parish into which it was absorbed in 1935
North Norfolk District, Norfolk, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area since 1974
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog
the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

West Raynham is a village and a former civil parish in Norfolk, England. Located close to the A1065 road, some 5 miles SW of Fakenham and is the largest village on the Raynham estate. The river Wensum flows nearby. Since 1935 it has been part of the civil parish of Raynham.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of West Raynham from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1871-72:

"RAINHAM (West), a parish in Walsingham [registration] district, Norfolk; on the river Wensum, 4¼ miles S W of Fakenham [railway] station. Post-town: Rougham, under Brandon. Acres: 1,370. Real property: £2,945. Population: 369. Houses: 64. The property belongs to Marquis Townshend. The living is a rectory, annexed to the rectory of East Rainham, in the diocese of Norwich. The church is in ruins. There are a girls' school, and charities £33. Whitaker the antiquary was a native."

Research Tips

  • GENUKI provides a list of references for West Raynham. Some entries lead to free online transcriptions of registers and censuses.
  • GENUKI also supplies a map illustrating the individual parishes of Gallow 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:
  • 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.
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at West Raynham. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.