Rackheath Magna / Great Rackheath / Racheia / Racheisham / Rakeia

There are three entries for Racheath [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TG2714/rackheath/] [accessed 16 April 2014], one of which reports 0.5 churches in it [NB: it must be the 'moiety' associated with Beeston, as it was in Ralph de Beaufour's holding]. Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "There were formerly two distinct towns, one called Great Rackheath, the other Little Rackheath, and each village had its church. [...] Eudo de Racheia, Geffrey, and Simon his brothers, then conveyed to Peter, and his heirs, the advowson of the church of Racheia by fine; and in the fourth of King John, a fine was levied of lands here between Geff. son of Alice, petent, and William de Rakeia, tenant." The conveyance of the advowson took place, according to Rye (1885), on the 8th of Richard I, i.e., 1197, by which time the church here must have in existence. More information on the churches of both Magna and Parva is given in the Parva entry in Blomefield (ibid.): "The Church of Rackheath Magna, is a rectory dedicated to AllSaints [...] Edith, daughter and coheir to her brother Geff. son of Peter le Constable, recovered the right of patronage of Rackey Parva church, in the 7th of Edward I" [i.e., 1279]. The present font here is described in Cox (1907) as a hexagonal [octagonal?] font that bears the arms of Pettus and is adorned after a 'debased Renaissance fashion' with cherubs. Inscribed with the initials of the decorator and the date 1639 [NB: C&H give the wrong century, the 16th., in their listing on p. 170, unless the date of the inscription refers specifically to the painting of the font ["...ornavit..."]. Listed in Bond (1908) as a Post-Reformation font. Pevsner & Wilson (1997) note that Cautley dates it to 1639. Illustrated in Knott (2009).