Raynham Hall

Raynham Hall is a country house in Norfolk, England. For nearly 400 years it has been the seat of the Townshend family. The hall gave its name to the five estate villages, known as The Raynhams, and is reported to be haunted, providing the scene for possibly the most famous ghost photo of all time, the famous Brown Lady descending the staircase. However, the ghost has been seen infrequently since the photo was taken. Its most famous resident was Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend (1674–1738), leader in the House of Lords.

Raynham Hall is one of the most splendid of the great houses of Norfolk. After a false start in 1619 and the accumulation on site of a large quantity of Ketton stone in 1621 it was rebegun in 1622, and by the time of Sir Roger Townshend's death in 1637 it was substantially complete, though apparently some rooms had not been fitted out, for when the architect Sir Roger Pratt saw it a few years after Townshend's death, he recalled later

Not long after it was built... I was some while in it, while it had no ornament at all... There was somewhat in it divine in the symmetry of proportions of length, height and breadth which was harmonious to the rational soul.

Whether or not Raynham Hall was "the first of its kind in England" as the genealogist G. E. Cokayne averred, it was certainly "one of the outstanding country houses of the period." Perhaps because of the three-year grand tour of Europe which Sir Roger had undertaken, accompanied by his mason, William Edge of Raynham, whom he paid in 1620 for twenty-eight weeks accompanying him "in England and out of England". Raynham was built in an entirely new style, abandoning native tradition and following the Italian form and plan. Except for its hipped roof and Dutch gables, Raynham could easily be mistaken for a house built nearly a century later.

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