Rayne, Essex

Description
Rayne, a village and a parish in Essex. The village stands near the Bishop Stortford, Dunmow, and Braintree branch of the G.E.R., on which it has a station, 2 miles W of Braintree. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Braintree. The parish comprises 2224 acres; population, 402. The manor belongs to the Earl of Essex. The living is a rectory in the diocese of St Albans; gross value, £404 with residence. Patron, the Earl of Essex. The church was rebuilt in 1840, and is a building of brick in the Tudor style, consisting of chancel with vestry, nave, S porch, and an embattled western tower. It contains some ancient memorials. There are large agricultural implement works, and there is a corn mill on the river Brain or Pod's Brook which flows past the village. Rayne Hall, formerly a seat of the Wells family, is now a farmhouse.