West Raynham / Raineham / Rainham St. Margaret / Reineham / Reinham / Remeham [Domesday]/ Reynham St. Margaret

Blomefield (1805-1810) writes about "RAINEHAM, Or Reineham, as it is wrote in the book of Domesday", in which, "part of the town now called East Rainham, and made up that parish, or lordship, as I take it, called now Rainham-Magna [...] South Rainham was then a beruite, that is, a less manor, and depending on this"; a third part was West Reinham. Blomefield (ibid.) reports that "In 1316, Thomas, son of Thomas de Hauvill, held by his father's enfeoffment, the manors of Dunton and Reynham, with the advowson of the church of Reynham St. Margaret [...] and in the said year, he gave to the priory of Miremound the patronage of the aforesaid church, with one acre of land." Blomefield (ibid.) adds: "This church has a nave, and a north isle, covered with lead, and a chancel with tiles", and names 'Richard de Walton' as first recorded rector, in 1322. White's Gazetteer of Norfolk for 1854 (p. 702) reports that the Church of St. Margaret "has long been dilapidated". The church is not mentioned in James (1930). The Church of England entry for this church [www.achurchnearyou.com/west-raynham-st-margaret/] [accessed 11 February 2012] notes: "This church was first built in the 11th century and extended in the 14th century. It fell into ruin from the 1720's when the roof lead was removed to help pay for the restoration of S. Mary's, East Raynham. The ruin has now been consolidated and the church is now back in occasional use." Among the ruins are what looks like the remains of a baptismal font: a plain octagonal stem on a moulded splaying lower base of the same shape; atop, the underbowl chamfer decorated with graded mouldings, and the bottom of an octagonal basin. It does not correspond to a font of the 11th or the 14th century. Knott (2007) suggests a font of the 18th century. [NB: a note accompanying a 27 June 2010 photograph of the ruins by Evelyn Simak [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1938752] [accessed 11 February 2012], however, reads: "a 'font' was reconstructed by using two capitals and a column section." -- we have no information on the earlier font(s) of this church].