The parish of Ashen, extending from Ovington to the Stour, is computed to be twelve miles in circumference ; distant from Clare two, and from London fifty-four miles.

These and the neighbouring lands are wet and heavy, with some variations, and generally well wooded. * The village is at a considerable distance from the great public roads, and occupying high grounds , enjoys very extensive and agreeable prospects. The name is of uncertain origin, and written variously in records, Aish, Ash, Ashton , Asheton, Esche, Eske, and Esse, and this last is found as early as the year 1090; † in Domesday - book it is named Clare, and probably at that time belonged to the parish so named, on the other side of the river.

Ashen has only one manor.
Claret Hall has also been formerly named the hamlet of Claret Hall; it is rather more than a mile from the church, and near the town of Clare.
It belonged to a freeman named Ledmar, in the time of Edward the Confessor, and at the Conqueror's survey, formed part of the possessions of Eustace, earl of Boulogne.

In the time of King John, Ralph de Cornhill held it; by whose daughter it was conveyed, in marriage, to Hamon de Chevequer, or Crevecour, ‡ lord of Chatham and Leeds, in Kent; and also of Moreton and Elsenham, in this county.

The family of Vaux, or Valls, were its next possessors; and, in 1262, this " little manor, " as it is called in the record, was sold by Robert de Valle, to Richard de Clare, earl of Gloucester, whose grandson, Gilbert, earl of Clare, Hertford, and Gloucester, in 1295, died possessed of this "manor and hamlet of Claret. "His successor was his son, Gilbert, on whose decease, in 1314,
he left his three sisters his co-heiresses . These were Eleanor, married to Hugh, lord Spencer; Elizabeth, first married to John de Burgh, earl of Ulster; secondly, to Theobald, lord Verdon; and, lastly, to Sir Roger Damory. The third sister was Margaret, first married to Piers Gaveston, earl of Cornwall, and afterwards to Hugh, lord Audely.

In 1360, Elizabeth , the second of these co-heiresses, died possessed of the manor of Ashen, which her only daughter, Elizabeth, conveyed to her husband, Lionel, third son of King Richard the Third, earl of Ulster in her right, and created duke of Clarence.

She died before him, yet, by the courtesy of England, he held the estate till his decease in 1368, and Philippa, their only daughter and heiress, married Edmund de Mortimer, the third earl of March, of that noble family, who, in her right, succeeded to the title of earl of Ulster, & c . In 1381 , he died possessed of this estate, in which he was succeeded by his son Roger , and his grandson, Edmund Mortimer, earls of March and Ulster, and lords of Wigmore, Trim, Clare, and Connaught. The latter of these, being heir to the house of York , and nearly allied to the crown, was, on that account, with singular cruelty and injustice, imprisoned nineteen years in Trim Castle , till his death in 1424, when he was succeeded by the heirs of his eldest sister, Anne Mortimer; who was married to Richard of Coningsburgh, earl of Cambridge, second son of Langley, duke of York, fifth son of King Edward the Third, by whom she had Richard Plantagenet, duke of York, earl of Cambridge, Rutland, March, and Ulster, lord of Tynedale , Wigmore, Clare , and Connaught ; who was slain at the battle of Wakefield, in 1460.

But his son, on ascending the throne as King Edward the Fourth, united this lordship to the crown, where it remained till Edward the Sixth, in 1551 , gave it , with other lands and possessions, to his preceptor, the learned Sir John Cheke ; * but he was deprived of it by Queen Mary , who , in 1558, united it to the dutchy of Lancaster. † It was afterwards sold, by King James the First, to Jonas Windle, who held lands also at Chelmsford, Rivenhall, Witham , Ovington , and at Bocking , where he died in 1625 , leaving this estate to Thomas Windle , one of his younger sons, from whom it passed to a citizen of London, named Gipps ; who sold it to Samuel Edwards ; and he afterwards disposed of it to Sir Gervase Elwes , bart. of Stoke College.

The family of Elwes is of Askham, in Nottinghamshire. William Elwes of that Elwes family. place, had by his wife, of a family named Livesey, of Lancaster, four sons; Edward of Askham; John of Worlaby, in Lincolnshire, father of Sir Gervase Elwe, knt . lieutenant of the Tower ; Thomas of Hawlethorp, in Nottinghamshire ; and Geofrey , alderman of London. This last, by his wife Elizabeth , sister and heiress of Henry Gabot , merchant , had several children . From Jeremy , one of the sons , descended the Elwesest of Throcking , in Hertfordshire . John , the third son , was an alderman of London , and father of Sir Gervase Elwes, knt . of Woodford; who , by Frances , second daughter of Sir Robert Lee , knt. of Billeslee , in Warwickshire , had Sir Gervase, Robert , Jeremy , and Sir John, knt . of Grove House, near Fulham. Sir Gervase Elwes , bart . the purchaser of this estate , was of Stoke Col- lege , and representative in several parliaments for the borough of Sudbury , and for the county of Suffolk.

By Amy, his wife, daughter of Dr. Trigge, of Highworth, in Wiltshire, he had Trigge, who died young, and Gervase, who married Isabella, daughter of Sir Thomas Harvey, knt. of Ickworth, in Suffolk , and sister of John, earl of Bristol, by whom he had Sir Harvey Elwes, who succeeded his grandfather, Sir Gervase, on his decease in 1705. He was four times representative in parliament for Sudbury: dying unmarried, in 1763, he was succeeded by John Elwes, Esq .; whose heir, John Timms, took the name of Elwes, and was afterwards a general in the army; on his death, in 1824, he was succeeded by his son, J. P. Elwes, the present owner of the estate.

The mansion known by the name of Ashen House belongs to an estate which , Ashen in 1330, was the property of Sir William le Moigne, in right of his wife Maud; and afterwards, in 1534, it belonged to William Hunt; who, on his decease in 1551, was succeeded by his grandson, John Hunt, from whom the estate was named Tallakern Hunt's Hall.
It afterwards became the seat of the ancient family of Tallakern, originally of Cornwall; (Footnote - the pedigree) three successive descents of the name of John appear in the pedigree , followed by Geofrey , who was slain at Exeter by the rebels , in the time of King Edward the Sixth. John, his son , was his successor , who, by his first wife, Jocosa , had no surviving children ; but by his second wife , Jane Bray , he had Justinian , Edward , Margaret , married, first, to Thomas Argale, and afterwards to Sir Giles Allington; and Catharine, whose first husband was Guy Wade, and her second , John Hornwall.

Edward Tallakern was of Stoke Neyland: he married Alice, daughter of Robert Allington, Esq. widow of William Sewster, by whom he had Sir John Tallakern, of Ashen Altesse. By Lucy, his wife, daughter of Thomas Cotton , Esq . of Conington , he had six sons and one daughter . He went as a captain in the expedition to the isle of Ree , in the time of King Charles the First , where he was slain in battle, in 1627 , + and lies buried in the church of Bumpsted Helion. Devereux Tallakern , Esq . his eldest son and successor , died also in 1628 , having previously sold this estate to John Fryer , of Gernons , in Bumpsted Steeple ; § who , on his decease in 1630 , left Edward , his son and heir , and Susan , who was married to Christopher Layer, Esq . of Boughton Hall , in Norfolk ; to whom , on the death of her brother , she brought this estate . She died in 1669 , and her husband in 1671 , and were both of them buried in the chancel of the church of Belchamp St. Paul.

They had four sons and two daughters; and, in 1701, the survivors of this family sold the estate to Stephen Piper , Esq . the second son of John Piper , of Great Cornard , in Suffolk : in 1686 , he attended Roger Palmer , earl of Castlemain , as master of the horse , in that nobleman's embassy to Rome ; and was afterwards colonel in the guards , under King William and Queen Anne . But resigning his command in 1704 , he came and resided at Ashen Hall , acting as justice of the peace and treasurer of the county , till his death in 1722. He married Philadelphia, daughter of Sir Robert Parker, bart . of Sussex , by whom having no issue , he left his estate to his nephew, John Piper , Esq ., * whose only daughter was married to Henry Sperling, Esq . of Dynes Hall, father of John Sperling, Esq. the present proprietor.

The handsome modern mansion known by the name of Ashen Hall , with the estate Ashen belonging to it, is the property of Mr. King Viall.

An ancient mansion, near the river Stour, called Launds, belonging to the Elwes family, derives its name from William de la Landa, who held tithes in this parish in the year 1090, which Richard de Clare gave to his religious foundation at Stoke; † and in 1360 , Philip at Launds had possessions here, which afterwards, in the reigns of King Henry the Fourth and Edward the Fourth, became the property of Richard Moseling, William at Stour, and John Flegg.

The church and chancel are small, built chiefly of stone, and tiled, with a square embattled tower containing three bells. The entrance into this church is by a descent of four steps, yet the situation is pleasant, commanding an extensive prospect westward.

A neat mural monument , on the north side of the chancel, is inscribed as follows :

"On a black marble underneath is the following:- "The body of the above - named Dorothy Byatt is since removed from hence to the vault in the church-yard, in which the corpse of the above-named Philadelphia, her grand-daughter, is likewise deposited; who departed this life the seventeenth of May, in the year of our Lord 1753, in the eighteenth year of her age, to the great grief of her parents, whose growing affections for her she continued to engage , by filial duty and obedience, and by her progress in virtue and prudence, with an amiable mildness of temper and benevolence of mind.

" On a monument against the south wall is the following:-

"Sir Giles Allington, of Horsheade Halle, in the county of Cambridge, knight, married Margarett Argale, widowe. She was the daughter of John Tallakarne, of Tallakarne, in Cornwall, Esq.

Edward Tallakarne, alias Talkarne, gentleman, the youngest sonne of John Tallakarne , married Alce Sewlter, widowe , by whom she had four children.

She was the daughter of Robert Alington, Esquier, the eldest sonne of Sir Giles Alington, knight. "Here lies buried Luce Tallakarne, the wife of captain John Tallakarne, Esquier, by whom she had seven children.

She was the eldest daughter of Thomas Cotton, of Connington, in the county of Huntingdon, by his first wife, Elizabeth Shirlye. She departed this lyfe the third of December, 1610."

On a white marble tablet on the north wall , within the chancel, is the following:-
"Reverand. Carolo Stuart, A.M. Ecclesiæ Bumpstead, ad Turrim Vicario hujusque per annos quinquaginta Rectori. Viro probo. Obiit Dec. 16, 1803, ætatis 84. Et Sarah conjugi, Obiit Oct. 12, 1771, ætatis 36."

The following inscription appears on a plain stone in the church-yard:
"Sacred to the memory of Amelia Maria Baker , who died on the nineteenth of August , 1818 , aged eighteen years.

"Rest, hapless victim of untimely death, Robb'd by an error of thy vital breath. Thee from the tomb no mortal aid could save, And love can only wet with tears thy grave;

Ere long, the grief - struck mourners o'er thy bier, With thee, will low among the dead lie here. Though sad such scenes , how blest our end will be, If we as virtuous live , and die resigned like thee.

"This living is a rectory, which was given, by Gilbert de Clare, to the priory of St. John the Baptist, at Clare, (afterwards removed to Stoke,) which he made a cell to the abbey of Bec, in Normandy, the prior and convent of which retained the patronage of this church, till it was seized by King Edward the Third, during his wars with France, but which, when a peace was concluded, he restored to the monks,