Rayne, Essex

Last updated

Rayne
Rayne Village Shield 800 1194.jpg
Rayne Village Shield
Essex UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Rayne
Location within Essex
Population2,299 (2011) [1]
OS grid reference TL730228
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Braintree
Postcode district CM77
Dialling code 01376
Police Essex
Fire Essex
Ambulance East of England
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Essex
51°52′36″N0°30′51″E / 51.8768°N 0.5142°E / 51.8768; 0.5142

Rayne is a village of about 2,300 residents in the Braintree district of Essex in the East of England.

Contents

It lies on the Roman road called Stane Street, about two miles (3 km) to the west of Braintree, which is the nearest town.

It used to be a more important settlement than Braintree in Norman times, although this has not been the case for a long time now.

Rayne has a playing field, a pub called The Swan, a village hall that overlooks the playing field, All Saints' church, a war memorial, a stream called Pod's Brook, and a small airfield. There are also the old manor house of Rayne Hall, and Old Hall; a previous Rectory. Rayne Hall was for a long time the home of the Capel family, who became Earls of Essex. In mediaeval times, the Church was known for healing miracles: it was said that infertile women visiting the church were later able to conceive. A number of the churchyard memorials are made of cast iron: these were manufactured at the former foundry in The Street at around the end of the nineteenth century using a common mould into which individual letters were inserted to spell out the details. [2]

The church building consists of the Tudor tower, built in 1510, a Nave (an 1840 construction, replacing a Norman building from 1199 and said to be unsafe) and a Sanctuary and Vestry, added in 1914. The earliest recorded Rector is Ralph de Fremingham, from 1260. [3]

Further west along the main road ("The Street"), there are: an Indian restaurant, another pub, the Welsh Princess, the site of the former Rayne Iron foundry (redeveloped for housing and offices in 2009), the Post Office stores, and what was a pub called The Cock, now renovated and operating as a bar and restaurant called 47 The Street. The road leads to the town of Great Dunmow.

Station Road leads down to the former Rayne railway station, which is now the Rayne Station Centre of the Flitch Way Country Park, a linear park stretching along the former trackbed of the railway. [4] This is also now National Cycle Network route No. 16.

Rayne, which is located about 40 miles (64 km) north-east of London, is twinned with Verberie which is about 40 miles (64 km) north-east of Paris in the French region of Picardy, which coincidentally is twinned with the County of Essex.

On 12 July 2006, Rayne was named Essex Village of the Year, in a competition organised annually by Rural Community Council of Essex (RCCE) and sponsored by Calor. Rayne also won first, the regional, and then national, Calor Village of the Year Competition 2006/7 in the ITC Category.

Notable residents

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witham</span> Town and civil parish in Essex, England

Witham is a town and civil parish in the Braintree district, in the county of Essex, England. In the 2011 census, it had a population of 25,353. It is twinned with the town of Waldbröl, Germany. Witham stands on the Roman road between the cities of Chelmsford and Colchester. The River Brain runs through the town and joins the River Blackwater on the outskirts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Dunmow</span> Town in Essex, England

Great Dunmow is a historic market town and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. It lies to the north of the A120 road, approximately midway between Bishop's Stortford and Braintree, 5 mi (8 km) east of London Stansted Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coggeshall</span> Village in Essex, England

Coggeshall is a town and civil parish in the Braintree district, in Essex, England, between Braintree and Colchester on the Roman road Stane Street and the River Blackwater. In 2001 it had a population of 3,919. It has almost 300 listed buildings and a market whose charter was granted in 1256 by King Henry III.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chipping Ongar</span> Town in Essex, England

Chipping Ongar is a market town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Ongar, in the Epping Forest District of the county of Essex, England. It is located 6 miles (10 km) east of Epping, 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Harlow and 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Brentwood. In 2020 the built-up area had an estimated population of 6420.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingatestone</span> Village in Essex, England

Ingatestone is a village and former civil parish in Essex, England, with a population of 5,409 inhabitants at the 2021 Census. Just north lies the village of Fryerning; the two now forming the parish of Ingatestone and Fryerning, in the Borough of Brentwood. Ingatestone lies in the Metropolitan Green Belt 20 miles north-east of London. Its built-up area straddles the A12 trunk road and the Great Eastern Main Line railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marks Tey</span> Village in Essex, England

Marks Tey is a large village and electoral ward in Essex, England; it is located six miles west of Colchester. It is one in a group of villages called The Teys, including Great Tey and Little Tey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hatfield Peverel</span> Village in Essex, England

Hatfield Peverel is a village and civil parish at the centre of Essex, England. It is located 6 miles (10 km) north-east from Chelmsford, the nearest large city, to which it is connected by road and rail. The parish includes the hamlets of Nounsley and Mowden. Hatfield means a 'heathery space in the forest'; Peverel refers to William Peverel, the Norman knight granted lands in the area by William the Conqueror after the Norman invasion of 1066. Sited on high ground east of the River Ter, between Boreham and Witham on the A12, it is situated in the southern extremity of the Braintree District Council area. In 2020, the built-up area subdivision had an estimated population of 3,226. In 2011, the built-up area which includes Nounsley had a population of 3,950 and the parish had a population of 4,376.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shenfield</span> Area of Brentwood in Essex, England

Shenfield is a suburb of Brentwood in the Borough of Brentwood, Essex, England. In 2020, it was estimated to have a population of 5,396.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobbingworth</span> Human settlement in England

Bobbingworth is a village and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. The village is situated approximately 3 miles (5 km) north-west from Chipping Ongar, 10 miles (16 km) west from the county town of Chelmsford, and lies off the A414 road. Bobbingworth is in the parliamentary constituency of Brentwood & Ongar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Hadham</span> Human settlement in England

Little Hadham is a village and civil parish in the district of East Hertfordshire, Hertfordshire, England. At the census of 2001 it had a population of 1,081, increasing to 1,153 at the 2011 Census. It is bypassed by the A120 road, which connects it to the nearby town of Bishop's Stortford. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Bury Green, Church End, Cradle End, Green Street and Hadham Ford. Little Hadham, together with the neighbouring village of Much Hadham, are collectively known as The Hadhams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A120 road</span> Road in the east of England

The A120 is an A-road in England, which runs between Puckeridge in Hertfordshire and Harwich in Essex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Dunmow</span> Village in Essex, England

Little Dunmow is a village situated in the Uttlesford district, in rural Essex, England, in the vale of the River Chelmer about 3 miles (4.8 km) east-southeast of the town of Great Dunmow. It can be reached from the Dunmow South exit of the A120 by following the road towards Braintree (B1256) for 3.2 km before turning right for the village. The centre of the old village, which has just 99 dwellings, is a further 0.6 km along the road. The Flitch Way, a linear country park along the route of the old Braintree to Bishop's Stortford railway, links Little Dunmow and the new settlement of Flitch Green. The new village, built on the site of a former sugar beet factory, is a self-contained community of 850 dwellings and is another kilometre along the road towards Felsted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northrepps</span> Human settlement in England

Northrepps is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is 3.4 miles (5.5 km) southeast of Cromer, 22.2 miles (35.7 km) north of Norwich and 137 miles (220 km) north of London. The village lies west of the A149 which runs between Kings Lynn and Great Yarmouth. The nearest railway station is at Cromer for the Bittern Line which runs between Sheringham, Cromer and Norwich. The nearest airport is Norwich International Airport. The village and parish of Northrepps had in the 2001 census a population of 839, increasing to 886 at the 2011 Census. For the purposes of local government, the village falls within the district of North Norfolk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Braintree, Essex</span> Town in Essex, England

Braintree is a town in Essex, England, and is the principal settlement of Braintree District. It is located 10 miles (16 km) north-east of Chelmsford, 15 miles (24 km) west of Colchester and 35 miles (56 km) north-west of Southend-on-Sea. According to the 2021 Census, the town had a population of 43,492; the urban area, which includes Great Notley, Rayne, Tye Green and High Garrett, had a population of 55,793.

The Bishop's Stortford–Braintree branch line was an 18-mile-long (29 km) railway line connecting existing railways at Bishop's Stortford, Dunmow and Braintree. It was promoted independently by the Bishop’s Stortford, Dunmow and Braintree Railway (BSD&BR) company, but the directors failed to generate subscriptions, or to manage the construction properly. The Great Eastern Railway was the dominant railway company in the area, and saw the line as a blocker, to prevent the incursion of a rival line, so they felt obliged to support it. However they themselves had other pressing priorities, both managerial and financial, at the time, and for some time the construction was in abeyance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rayne railway station</span> Former railway station in England

Rayne railway station was located in Rayne, Essex. The station was 15 miles 54 chains (25.23 km) from Bishop's Stortford on the Bishop's Stortford to Braintree branch line. The station closed in 1952.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Waltham</span> Village in Essex, England

Little Waltham is a village and civil parish just north of Chelmsford, in Essex, England. It is adjacent to the village of Great Waltham. The Domesday Book refers to the two villages as Waltham, consisting of several manors. The site of an Iron Age village was excavated before upgrading the main road north between the current villages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bocking, Essex</span> Area in the town of Braintree, Essex, England

Bocking is a suburban village on the northern side of Braintree, in Essex, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forest Way, Essex</span> Footpath in Essex, England

The Forest Way, Essex is a long-distance footpath in west Essex, England. The 25-mile path runs from Loughton via Epping Forest to Hatfield Forest. It is waymarked, and named on Ordnance Survey mapping.

The John Ray Walk is a linear footpath from Braintree to Witham in Essex, England. The 9-mile (14.4 km) footpath follows the valley of the River Brain.

References

  1. "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  2. History of Rayne Church. Locally published by the PCC of All Saints Church. 1990 Edition.
  3. "All Saints Rayne: A Brief History and Guide to the Church"; Undated but produced during the period 1985-1991.
  4. "Flitch Way - Discovering Essex - making tracks countryside through the Essex Countryside" (PDF). 5 November 2008. Retrieved 18 June 2009.
  5. "Folk singer songwriter on a mission to save the humble English pub". Braintree and Witham Times. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  6. "Leeroy Thornhill - The Prodigy .info". theprodigy.info. Retrieved 9 July 2021.