Earls Colne

Earls Colne derives its name from the river Colne, and its ancient occupation by the De Veres, Great Chamberlain of England, Earls of Oxford, and Dukes of Dublin, who had a seat here, called Hall Place, with a park of about 700 acres detached, and which stood on one side of the church.
, a town as ancient as the time of King Edward the Confessor, situate near the banks of the Colne. In the Hinckford hundred and in the Halstead union.. On the road from Halstead to Colchester, 5 miles north-east of Marks Tay station, 48 miles from London, 3 miles east-south-east of Halstead, 10 miles noorth-west of Colchester, 7 1/2 milles noorth of Coggeshall, and 7 miles north of Kelvedon station.. The parish contains 2,959 acres. Population in 1861 was 1,540"[Kelly's Directory of Essex, 1862]

“COLNE (EARL'S), a parish in the Witham division of the hundred of LEXDEN, county of ESSEX, 3 ½ miles (E. S. E.) from Halstead, containing 1229 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Colchester, and diocese of London, rated in the king's books at £8.10.10., and in the patronage of W. Reeve, and Arthur Clarence, Esqrs. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, contains several monuments of the de Veres, Earls of Oxford, which were removed from the church of a Benedictine priory, founded here in the eleventh century by Aubrey de Vere, who himself became one of the monks: it was dedicated to St. Mary and St. John the Evangelist, and was made a cell to the abbey of Abingdon in Berkshire; at the dissolution, it had a prior and ten monks, with a revenue of £175. 14. 8. There is a place of worship for Particular Baptists. Here is an ancient free school, endowed by the Earls of Oxford, the annual income of which is £12.17. A fair for cattle and toys is held on the 25th of March. The river Colne, which is here crossed by a bridge on the line of the Roman road from Colchester, runs through this parish.” [From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of England (1831) - copyright Mel Lockie 2016]