Eilert Ekwall comments: "The first element of the names is possibly Old English glēam 'merriment'..." By analogy with Glandford in Norfolk, 'Glemham' could mean the 'village where sports were held'.

[2] Glemham House was built by Samuel Kilderbee in 1814[3] to the designs of Thomas Hopper[4] and is the seat of the Earls of Cranbrook and Gathorne-Hardy family.

With strong connections between the family and Benjamin Britten, the house hosted some of the earlier and more intimate performances of the Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts including a notable recording by Julian Bream and Peter Pears.

An earlier Glemham House, located closer to the village itself, had in the late eighteenth century been the home of George Crabbe, the author of the poem The Borough which formed the basis of Britten's 1945 masterpiece Peter Grimes.

Although set at nearby Iken Hall, the child characters in this work were transplanted from Glemham House, at that time the home of Jock and Fidelity Cranbrook.