[3][4] The village of Redenhall was mentioned in the Domesday Book, as part of the Lands of the King that Godric holds, in the Half Hundred of Earsham.

It states that in King Edward the Confessor' time, Rada the Dane held Redenhall, and that his holding was roughly 700 acres, upon which there were forty subordinate tenantries with six plough-teams.

The Domesday Book only makes brief reference to Harleston saying that the Abbot of Bury St. Edmunds was lord here then.

In the town centre is the church of St John the Baptist, the present building being completed in 1872.

[citation needed] Redenhall and Harleston railway stations previously connected these settlements by rail with Tivetshall St Margaret and Beccles on the Waveney Valley Line.