A silver penny of the Saxon king Aethelred II was also found nearby as well as bronze fragments thought to represent the Bigod family.

[5] It was known as Acheham in the Domesday Book which records the population in 1086 to be 50 households made up 48 freemen and 2 smallholders along with 12 acres of meadow, 2 cobs, 7 cattle, and 6 pigs.

The church was the scene of one of the great ecclesiastical scandals of the 19th century, which occupied the national press for a year or more, which reached the high court, and which ultimately led to the Burial Laws Amendment Act 1880.

[8] Rise Hall near the church is a late Georgian building on the site of an ancient manor house,[9] formerly the residence of the Le Ruse or Rous family in the 13th century.

The mound is small and there is no attached bailey, Rise Hall being about 50m to the north, in an oval enclosure partly defined by ponds.

There are a few small businesses operating out of former agricultural buildings, including Stealth Electronics, which specialises in security equipment, based at Akenham Hall Farm.