Recently we received an e-mail from South Africa from a Mr Vincent Rayne, saying that he would soon be visiting England in search of his family history, & would like some help from someone at St. Mary’s. I had the pleasure of meeting him, his brother & nephew in the church for an hour.

He is descended from Edward Rayne’s younger brother. Edward Rayne was born in 1778, & died in 1847. We have records of his burial, & that of his three of his children, & baptisms of eight of the children.

The Raynes became prosperous farmers in the late 18^th century, & owned extensive lands in the West Barnes area. It is thought that originally these farms belonged to Merton Priory. They produced a large quantity of hay, which was stored in vast barns, hence the name.

Miss Jowett, in her “History of Merton & Morden”, tells us that well-off farmers such as these lived the life of a country gentleman, & used to meet for a local Stag Hunt near Merton Hall Road. Steeplechasing also took place from the Raynes’ farm house to Cannon Hill lake & back again.

Although rural Merton changed enormously in the nineteenth century, the name of “Rayne” lives on in the area & station of Raynes Park. Unusually for a land owner of this time, Edward Rayne was not against the coming of the railway. The South West railway was built in 1837 from Nine Elms to Woking, & Edward gave some land for the purpose. He was rewarded by the station being given his name.

The South African visitors had already been to the Local History Centre at Morden library, to look at old maps, & then intended visiting the Surrey History Centre at Woking (where all our records are kept), to get copies of various certificates.

Our ancient parish church often engenders worldwide interest.