Two notices are painted on the underside of the spandrels of the village sign at Rackheath.
One notice reads, ‘The original sign was erected in 1983 by Rackeath Parish Council to commemorate the Silver Jubilee (1952 – 1977) and was replaced in 2016’. The belated celebration took place in May 1983 whilst the unveiling of the replacement copy was erected in October 2016.
The other note states, ‘The early name of the village at the time of the Domesday survey of 1086 was ‘Racheia’ or ‘Rackey’: a landing place on a water course.’ This is the reason a river is depicted running across the central image of the sign.
The River Bure is only two miles away from Rackheath; a tributary flows past All Saints Church, shown beyond this stream on the sign. This ancient edifice now stands some way distant from the centre of Rackheath. By 1971 it had been declared redundant. It is now looked after by the Norfolk Churches Trust.
The church contains many memorials to the Pettus and Stracey families. Their coats of arms are shown on the left and right spandrels respectively.
The Pettus family lived here between 1591 and 1722. They were a family of merchants, with several members also serving in public office. They owned a forerunner to Rackeath Hall.
The Stracey family, who built the present Rackheath Hall, took over the estate in 1780. The type of plough seen on the sign, designed for deep subsoil work, is said to have been invented by Sir Edward Stracey.
The deer and trees depicted in front of the church represent those on the Rackheath Hall estate.
The smaller panels on either side display a post mill on the left and an airbase on the right. It is known that there was a postmill here in the 1200s. There is no trace of it today, other than a crop mark in field evident only on aerial photographs.
The airfield was a station for the United States Eighth Air Force. It was built on Rackheath estate by John Laing & Son Ltd and opened in March 1944 as USAAF Station 145.
A memorial plaque has been installed at the foot of the village sign, with an inscription, part of which reads, ‘To the memory of our comrades who died in training and in 212 combat missions flown in B-24 Liberator bombers from Station 145, Rackheath, Norfolk, England from 1o April 1944 to 25 April 1945, and to all assigned or attached to the 467th Bombardment Group (Heavy)’. Link (
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