Earls Colne
Encyclopedia
Earls Colne is a village in Essex
, England
named after the River Colne
, on which it stands, and the Earls of Oxford who held the manor of Earls Colne from before 1086 to 1703.
Earls Colne belonged to a Saxon noble named Wulfwine also recorded as Ulwin/Ulwine. Ulwin's whole estate was given to Aubrey de Vere
by William the Conqueror
. His grandson Aubrey de Vere III
became the first Earl of Oxford
in the mid-twelfth century.
The Earls had an ancient mansion called Hall Place standing near the site of the present Ashwells in Park Lane.
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford
mismanaged his finances and in 1583 the estate, then comprising the manor and park of seven hundred acres, were purchased from him by his steward Richard Harlakenden.
and his team from the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge
.
The resulting database contains a large part of the surviving records of the parish over the period 1380-1854. The manorial records have been transcribed from Latin and these together with the parish registers, tithe maps
and Ralph Josselin
's diary have been indexed by place, person and date.
in Cambridgeshire, settled in Earls Colne and set up a millwrighting and wheelwrighting shop and smithy at what was to become the Atlas Works.
The business soon gained a local reputation for making general agricultural equipment and after exhibiting products at the Royal Agricultural Show
in 1851 the company's products gained a country-wide recognition.
After Robert Hunt's death the firm was carried on by his surviving son Reuben Hunt and grew to become the major employer in the village, by 1900 employing approximately half of the male working population of the village.
When Sir R. H. Hunt
, the founder's grandson, died in 1970 the firm was still the village's chief employer with some 300 employees and works covering 10 acres (40,468.6 m²). However the business subsequently declined and The Atlas Works were closed in 1988.
. The Earls Colne Co-op was one the last remaining independent village co-operative society in Essex and Suffolk, finally merging with the far larger Colchester and East Essex society in 1970. The Earls Colne Co-op was founded in 1884 in the front room of a cottage in High Street.
The current store occupies a building dating to between 1480 and 1510, the roof timbers being preserved and exposed in-store to enable the public to appreciate the method of construction.
; Colne Priory; The Earls of Oxford; The 1598 Map by Israel Amyce; The Diary of the Reverend Ralph Josselin; Other notable Earls Colne residents of the past; The Victorian Era; The Atlas Works and the Hunt Family; & The Second World War.
originally occupied a site in Lower Holt Street but moved to premises in York Road which were opened on 12 September 1893. The School was closed in 1975 when it was amalgamated into The Ramsey College
, Halstead as part of the re-organisation of schooling along comprehensive lines.
order from Abingdon Abbey, Berkshire. The monastery was surrendered to Henry VIII of England
by Robert Abel, the prior, on 3 July 1534.
The parish church is dedicated to St. Andrew
. The date of the original church is not known but is probably earlier than 1100. The current church was built between 1313 and 1360, the present tower was started in 1460 and completed in 1534.
A notable vicar of the parish was Ralph Josselin
who was instituted in 1641 and held the post until his death in 1683. Josselin was a diarist and his published diary has been said to rival, with a rural perspective, that of Samuel Pepys
from a similar period.
Image:EarlsColne telephone box.JPG|Red telephone box in Earls Colne along High Street
Image:Clean it up.JPG|Clean-it-up campaign in Earls Colne area
Image:Manhole cover in Earls Colne.JPG|Unusual manhole cover in High Street
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
named after the River Colne
River Colne, Essex
The River Colne is a small river that runs through Colchester, England. It is not a tributary of any other river, instead having an estuary that joins the sea near Brightlingsea.-Source:...
, on which it stands, and the Earls of Oxford who held the manor of Earls Colne from before 1086 to 1703.
Manor of Earls Colne
In the time of Edward the ConfessorEdward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....
Earls Colne belonged to a Saxon noble named Wulfwine also recorded as Ulwin/Ulwine. Ulwin's whole estate was given to Aubrey de Vere
Aubrey de Vere I
Aubrey de Vere was a tenant-in-chief of William the Conqueror in 1086 and also vassal to Geoffrey de Montbray, bishop of Coutances and to Count Alan, lord of Richmond. A much later source named his father as Alphonsus...
by William the Conqueror
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
. His grandson Aubrey de Vere III
Aubrey de Vere III
Aubrey de Vere III was created Earl of Oxford by the empress Matilda in July 1141. He had inherited the barony of Hedingham on the death of his father Aubrey de Vere II in May 1141, when he was already Count of Guînes by right of his wife Beatrice. In 1139 and 1154 he was appointed High Sheriff...
became the first Earl of Oxford
Earl of Oxford
Earl of Oxford is a dormant title in the Peerage of England, held for several centuries by the de Vere family from 1141 until the death of the 20th earl in 1703. The Veres were also hereditary holders of the office of master or Lord Great Chamberlain from 1133 until the death of the 18th Earl in 1625...
in the mid-twelfth century.
The Earls had an ancient mansion called Hall Place standing near the site of the present Ashwells in Park Lane.
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford was an Elizabethan courtier, playwright, lyric poet, sportsman and patron of the arts, and is currently the most popular alternative candidate proposed for the authorship of Shakespeare's works....
mismanaged his finances and in 1583 the estate, then comprising the manor and park of seven hundred acres, were purchased from him by his steward Richard Harlakenden.
Village Records
Earls Colne is one of the best recorded villages in the UK and has been the subject of a study undertaken between 1972 and 2002 by Professor Alan MacfarlaneAlan Macfarlane
Alan Donald James Macfarlane FBA FRHistS is a renowned anthropologist and historian and a Professor Emeritus of King's College, Cambridge. He is the author or editor of 20 books and numerous articles on the anthropology and history of England, Nepal, Japan and China. He has focused on comparative...
and his team from the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
.
The resulting database contains a large part of the surviving records of the parish over the period 1380-1854. The manorial records have been transcribed from Latin and these together with the parish registers, tithe maps
Tithe maps
The term Tithe map is usually applied to a map of an English or Welsh parish or township, prepared following the Tithe Commutation Act 1836. This act allowed tithes to be paid in cash rather than goods. The map and its accompanying schedule gave the names of all owners and occupiers of land in the...
and Ralph Josselin
Ralph Josselin
Ralph Josselin was the vicar of Earls Colne in Essex from 1641 until his death in 1683. His diary records intimate details of everyday farming life, family and kinship in a small, isolated rural community, and is often studied by researchers interested in the period, alongside other similar...
's diary have been indexed by place, person and date.
R. Hunt and Company Limited - Atlas Works
In 1824 Robert Hunt, a millwright from SohamSoham
Soham is a small town in the English county of Cambridgeshire. It lies just off the A142 between Ely and Newmarket . Its population is 9,102 , and it is within the district of East Cambridgeshire.-Archaeology:...
in Cambridgeshire, settled in Earls Colne and set up a millwrighting and wheelwrighting shop and smithy at what was to become the Atlas Works.
The business soon gained a local reputation for making general agricultural equipment and after exhibiting products at the Royal Agricultural Show
Royal Show
The Royal Show was an annual agricultural show/fair held by the Royal Agricultural Society of England every year from 1839 to 2009. It was held in Stoneleigh Park near Stoneleigh in Warwickshire, England...
in 1851 the company's products gained a country-wide recognition.
After Robert Hunt's death the firm was carried on by his surviving son Reuben Hunt and grew to become the major employer in the village, by 1900 employing approximately half of the male working population of the village.
When Sir R. H. Hunt
R. H. Hunt
Reuben Harrison Hunt , also known as R. H. Hunt, was an American architect who spent most of his life in Chattanooga, Tennessee and is considered to have been one of the city's most significant early architects....
, the founder's grandson, died in 1970 the firm was still the village's chief employer with some 300 employees and works covering 10 acres (40,468.6 m²). However the business subsequently declined and The Atlas Works were closed in 1988.
Earls Colne Industrial Co-operative Society
Central to late Nineteenth and early Twentieth century life in the village was the Earls Colne Industrial and Co-operative SocietyThe Co-operative Group
The Co-operative Group Ltd. is a United Kingdom consumer cooperative with a diverse range of business interests. It is co-operatively run and owned by its members. It is the largest organisation of this type in the world, with over 5.5 million members, who all have a say in how the business is...
. The Earls Colne Co-op was one the last remaining independent village co-operative society in Essex and Suffolk, finally merging with the far larger Colchester and East Essex society in 1970. The Earls Colne Co-op was founded in 1884 in the front room of a cottage in High Street.
The current store occupies a building dating to between 1480 and 1510, the roof timbers being preserved and exposed in-store to enable the public to appreciate the method of construction.
Landmarks
The Earls Colne Heritage Museum occupies The Old Water Tower, Reuben Hunt Walk which was the former water tower of the Atlas Works, the home of R Hunt & Company. The main sections of the permanent exhibition comprise Earls Colne in Earliest Times; the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
; Colne Priory; The Earls of Oxford; The 1598 Map by Israel Amyce; The Diary of the Reverend Ralph Josselin; Other notable Earls Colne residents of the past; The Victorian Era; The Atlas Works and the Hunt Family; & The Second World War.
Education
In 1520 the Reverend Christopher Swallow gave lands to the Earl of Oxford for the founding of a school for the instruction of thirty children. Earls Colne Grammar SchoolEarls Colne Grammar School
Earls Colne Grammar School, the Grammar School of Earls Colne, founded in 1520 and closed in 1975.-Foundation:Earls Colne Grammar School was founded in 1520 when the Reverend Christopher Swallow, vicar of Messing endowed land in trust to the Earl of Oxford, the income from which was to support a...
originally occupied a site in Lower Holt Street but moved to premises in York Road which were opened on 12 September 1893. The School was closed in 1975 when it was amalgamated into The Ramsey College
The Ramsey College
The Ramsey College is a Secondary School in Halstead, Essex, England. As of July 2007 it was awarded certified special needs status. It is a mixed school, with no denominational religion...
, Halstead as part of the re-organisation of schooling along comprehensive lines.
Religion
A monastery, Colne Priory, was founded in the parish by Aubrey de Vere I in about 1103-4 and was dedicated to St. Mary and St. John the Evangelist for monks of the BenedictineBenedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
order from Abingdon Abbey, Berkshire. The monastery was surrendered to Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
by Robert Abel, the prior, on 3 July 1534.
The parish church is dedicated to St. Andrew
Saint Andrew
Saint Andrew , called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" , like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the 3rd or 2nd century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him...
. The date of the original church is not known but is probably earlier than 1100. The current church was built between 1313 and 1360, the present tower was started in 1460 and completed in 1534.
A notable vicar of the parish was Ralph Josselin
Ralph Josselin
Ralph Josselin was the vicar of Earls Colne in Essex from 1641 until his death in 1683. His diary records intimate details of everyday farming life, family and kinship in a small, isolated rural community, and is often studied by researchers interested in the period, alongside other similar...
who was instituted in 1641 and held the post until his death in 1683. Josselin was a diarist and his published diary has been said to rival, with a rural perspective, that of Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
from a similar period.
Transport
Earls Colne Airfield, which is situated approximately 1 miles (1.6 km) South-southwest of the village, was a bomber station used by the RAF and USAAF between 1942 and 1955. It is now a golf course, business park and UK and civilian airfield for light aviation.Notable people
- Thomas AudleyThomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of WaldenThomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden, KG, PC, KS , Lord Chancellor of England, born in Earls Colne, Essex, the son of Geoffrey Audley, is believed to have studied at Buckingham College, Cambridge...
(1488–1544), 1st Baron Audley of Walden, Lord ChancellorLord ChancellorThe Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
to Henry VIII of EnglandHenry VIII of EnglandHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France... - Reverend Thomas Shepard (1605–1649), assistant schoolmaster at Earls Colne Grammar SchoolEarls Colne Grammar SchoolEarls Colne Grammar School, the Grammar School of Earls Colne, founded in 1520 and closed in 1975.-Foundation:Earls Colne Grammar School was founded in 1520 when the Reverend Christopher Swallow, vicar of Messing endowed land in trust to the Earl of Oxford, the income from which was to support a...
who subsequently emigrated and became a founder of Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country... - Reverend Ralph JosselinRalph JosselinRalph Josselin was the vicar of Earls Colne in Essex from 1641 until his death in 1683. His diary records intimate details of everyday farming life, family and kinship in a small, isolated rural community, and is often studied by researchers interested in the period, alongside other similar...
(1616–1683), vicar, diarist - Sir Thomas Fowell BuxtonThomas Fowell BuxtonSir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet was an English Member of Parliament, brewer, abolitionist and social reformer....
(1786–1845), 1st Baronet, MP and campagner for the 1833 Act abolishing slavery in the British Colonies - Sir Edwin MantonEdwin MantonSir Edwin Alfred Grenville Manton was a driving force in the creation of the American International Group , a collector of paintings by John Constable and his contemporaries, and a generous benefactor to the arts, the church and medicine.Knighted in 1994 for charitable services to the Tate Gallery...
(1909–2005), collector of the works of John ConstableJohn ConstableJohn Constable was an English Romantic painter. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape paintings of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home—now known as "Constable Country"—which he invested with an intensity of affection...
and multimillion pound donor to the Tate GalleryTate GalleryThe Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
in London. - Alex StewartAlex Stewart (writer)Alex Stewart is a British writer, who also goes by the pseudonym Sandy Mitchell, best known for his Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 novels, including the Ciaphas Cain series....
, writer, who also goes by the pseudonym of Sandy Mitchell
Images
Image:EarlsColne telephone box.JPG|Red telephone box in Earls Colne along High Street
Image:Clean it up.JPG|Clean-it-up campaign in Earls Colne area
Image:Manhole cover in Earls Colne.JPG|Unusual manhole cover in High Street