Manor of Earls Colne

In the time of Edward the Confessor Earls Colne belonged to a Saxon noble named Wulfwine, also recorded as Ulwin or Ulwine.
Ulwin's whole estate was given to Aubrey de Vere by William the Conqueror.[4] 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.

These are four contiguous parishes in the north - west part of this hundred , receiving their general appellation from the river Colne , by the side of which they are situated . The Colnes are included in the district of Miscellaneous Loams , and present considerable variety of soil , some of which is heavy , but the universal prevalence of a mixture of sand , is opposed to the character of tenacity , which might otherwise be expected in the lower parts of these lands .

The name of this parish is derived from its ancient proprietors, the noble family of the De Veres, earls of Oxford. It has also formerly been named Colne Monachorum, from the priory founded here, and Colne St. Andrew, from the saint to which that institution and the church were dedicated; and being the largest of these parishes, it has been called Great Colne: in Domesday book it is written Coles.

Much of it is on rising ground; and it is ten miles in circumference. The distance from Coggeshall is five, from Colchester ten, and from London forty-eight miles. There is a fair here yearly, on Lady Day.

In Edward the Confessor's time, it belonged to Ulwin, a noble Saxon, whose Fair . whole estate was given by William the Conqueror to Alberic de Vere , to whom he Vere fa- also gave his half - sister Beatrix in marriage . mily . The manor of Earl's Colne continued in this noble family from 1137 to 1703, during which period there was a succession of twenty earls ; an instance unparalleled in the English peerage .

Earl's Colne was holden of the King in capite , as were the other lordships belonging to the barony , to which the high office of Lord Chamberlain was annexed ; and this manor continued in the family , with some little interruption , till 1583 . Place . The earls had anciently a mansion or palace here , called Hall Place ; * it was near Hall the church - yard , by the road leading to Colne Park : afterwards they built a house within the Priory Close , where they resided occasionally , till the dissolution of monasteries . John de Vere , and Aubrey his son , during the civil wars , were attainted and beheaded , for opposing King Edward the Fourth, and their forfeited estates were granted, by Richard the Third, to Sir Thomas Montgomery of Faulkbourn , who held his first court here in 1483.

But John , the thirteenth earl , was restored to this and his other possessions by King Henry the Seventh . John , the sixteenth earl , was unjustly and cruelly deprived of this and a great part of his other estates ; but on application to parliament , in the succeeding reign of Queen Mary , they were again restored to him ; but Edward , the seventeenth earl , wasting his patrimony, his steward , Roger Harlackenden , in 1583 , purchased this manor and park of him.

The family of Harlackenden were of Woodchurch , in the hundred of Blackbourn , Harlack- in Kent . William Harlackenden , Harlackenden , Esq . died in 1081 , the fifteenth of William the Conqueror , and was buried in the family vault , in the south chancel of Woodchurch , where his epitaph is said to have been found . † His successors were William , Thomas , William , and John , living in 1326 , as was Thomas in 1408 . Moses , the son of Thomas , married Petronilla , daughter of Sir Henry Hardress , by whom he had William and John . William , the eldest , was seated at Woodchurch , and his posterity ended there in Walter .

John , the second son of Moses Harlackenden , lived at Warhorn in Kent ; and John was his son , by his wife Joan , daughter and heiress of Thomas Willis , of Alling- Androwes family . ton , in that county . - John Harlackenden married Joan , daughter of Philips , of Tenterden ; by whom he had three sons , Thomas , William , Roger ; and a daughter named Elizabeth . Thomas , the eldest son , was of Woodchurch , and had , besides other children , George of Little Yeldham , in this county . Roger , the youngest son of John Harlackenden , the purchaser of the manor and Priory of Earl's Colne , married Elizabeth , daughter of Thomas Hardress , Esq . by whom he had Roger , Richard , Thomas , and Mabel . He had also three other wives , but by those had no children .

Thomas , his youngest son , succeeded to his father's estates on his death , in 1602 , * and is stated , in the Inquisition , to have been his son and heir , at that time thirty - four years of age . Mabel was married to Clement Stonard , of Stapleford Abbots . Of Roger there is no account . Richard , his next brother , of Staple's Inn , married Margaret , daughter of Edward Hubbert , Esq . , of Montfichet , and of the Six Clerks ' Office , by whom he had several sons and seven daughters . Richard , the father , died in 1631 , and his widow Mar- garet , as is stated in the Inquisition , was a lunatic , and held the Lodge , and other estates , the reversion of which was settled on Roger , their second son . Richard , the eldest son , was heir to the other estates : his first wife was Alice , daughter of Sir Henry Mildmay , of Little Baddow , Knt . , by whom he had a son named Richard .

His second wife was Mary , daughter of Sir Edward Denny , Knt . , of Bishop's Stortford , in Hertfordshire , by whom he had Margaret , married to John Eldred , Esq . , of Olivers , counsellor at law ; Mary , who died unmarried ; and Eliza- beth , wife of Thomas Bowes , Esq . , of Great Bromley . Richard , his only son , succeeded his father , and lived to the age of eighty - nine , dying in 1692. He left by Mary , his wife , daughter of Christopher Meredith , of London , an only child , Mary . †

Mary Harlackenden was married , in 1653 , to Daniel Androwes , Esq . , of London , and of Low Layton , in Essex . The family of Androwes deduced their pedigree from the Norman Conquest , and had been settled for many generations at Winwick , and Belston , in the county of Warwick . - Daniel Androwes , merchant , was of this family ; and his son Henry , by his wife Thorowgood , was the husband of Dorothy , daughter of Sir Arthur Harris , Knt . and Bart . , by whom he had Daniel Androwes , who , in 1672 , married the aforesaid Mary , the only daughter and heiress of Richard Harlackenden , Esq . , and in her right CHAP . came into the possession of these estates . He died in 1680 , and his wife died in 1729 , after nearly forty - eight years of widowhood .

They had Richard , born after his father's decease , Anne , Mary , Dorothy , and Frances . Richard Androwes married Margaret , daughter of Laurence Hatsell , but died , in 1730 , without children . Anne * was married to John Wale , Esq . , of Saffron Walden . The other daughters left no heirs , and the estate centered in the heir of the eldest daughter Anne ; who , by John Wale , Esq . , had four sons , John , Geoffrey , Charles , and Richard ; and two daughters , Anne and Elizabeth . John Wale , Esq . , the eldest son , in 1738 , married Anne , the only surviving daughter of John Eldred , Esq . , of Olivers , in Stanway ; but he died , in 1761 , without children . Geofrey , the second son , married Amy Martin , but both died before the eldest bro- ther , and left no issue ; on which the third son , Charles Wale , Esq . , succeeded his brother John . From the Wale family it passed to that of Holgate , and , by the heiress of that family , was conveyed in marriage to the Rev. C. Carwardine , and is now the property of Henry Carwardine , Esq .

A monastery was founded in this parish , about the year 1100 , by Aubrey de Vere , Priory . the first of that name, son of Alphonsus de Vere , and Earl of Guisnes , in Normandy. It was dedicated to St. Mary and St. John the Evangelist, for monks of the Benedictine order , brought from Abingdon , † in Berkshire , to which larger abbey this was con- stituted a cell . The founder became afterwards a monk in this house , and was buried in the church belonging to it . He endowed it , with the church of this parish , with one hundred and twenty acres of the demesne lands, and with other very extensive possessions.

It was surrendered to Henry the Eighth , on the 3d of July , 1534 , by Robert Abel , prior ; John London , sub - prior ; and nine other monks . The priory was near the river Colne , within an inclosure of about twelve acres , surrounded by a brick wall . The original building was of timber , but was a long time ago pulled down and rebuilt , and was cased with brick , by John Wale , Esq . The Priory Church was a stately edifice , with north and south aisles , extending Priory the whole length of the nave . It had also a choir and a chapel , called Our Lady's Chapel , where the high altar was ; and another chapel dedicated to St. Peter . The tower contained five bells , and was of free - stone and flints . This noble building has been entirely destroyed ; and some of the monuments have been removed to the parish church , but in a broken and decayed condition . One of these is of alabaster , supposed by Weever to have been intended for Alberic , the third earl , and has his effigy in armour . Another , with the garter on his left leg . Three others , whose effigies , of wood , were cross - legged . The arms and quarterings of the family , blazoned and carved on these monuments , are almost entirely destroyed . * Manor . On the suppression of the monastery , the estate was given to the descendant of the founder and patron ; and was originally , and yet is , a distinct manor , having passed from the heirs of the earls of Oxford , as the other manor in this parish has done . †

The estate named Spoutwell Farm , was formerly a seat of the Cressener family ; and that of Hay House and Curds , remained a long time the property of the Abbots . The parish church , dedicated to St. Andrew , is in a pleasant part of the village , and has a nave , chancel , and south aisle . The tower is large , containing six bells ; and the top , which is of flint , has ornamental carvings of stone at each corner , represent- ing mullets . Underneath , on the east and west sides , the quarterings of John de Vere , the sixteenth earl of Oxford , are cut in stone within the garter , supported by two rein - deers ; a boar for the crest . Beneath the arms , on the east side , is the date , 1532. A gallery within the church was erected in 1725 , by Mrs. Anne Cressener ; and the altar - piece was given by Mrs. Wale .

The living was a rectory, till it was appropriated to the priory, when a vicarage was ordained and endowed; and the prior and convent continued patrons till the suppression of the house ; it remained afterwards in the De Vere family , till it went with the estate to the family of Harlackenden , and , in 1673 , the living was considerably aug- mented by Richard Harlakenden , Esq . There is a vault in this church belonging to the ancient family of Cressener , a branch of which settled here from Bures Hamlet . The Eldred family , of Olivers , in Stanway , have also a vault here , and several inscriptions . * In the nave of this church are three table monuments , with effigies to the memory of the Earls of Oxford . Weever mentions no less than seven monuments of this family : " Not one of them are remaining at this day , " ( in 1745 , when Mr. Cole , the antiquary , surveyed this church , ) " if I except the poor remains of one I saw in an old summer- house , at the south-east corner of the garden of Mr. Wale's house , called the Priory , of which only the part of a man in armour , in fine alabaster , from the middle part of his thighs to his waist was left , and the same part of a woman . In the same place lay many pieces of marble and alabaster , which had been cut into long pieces , for chimney- pieces and other uses , from the aforesaid monuments ; and Mr. Wale told me that all the chimney - pieces in his house were made from these ruinated tombs of the Oxford family . " +

The first monument is of the altar form , close to the entrance into the chancel ; it has six pointed arches on each side , with small figures . On the table is the recumbent effigy of the baron , in plate armour , with a coat of estate , quarterly gules , and or , a mullet in the dexter quarter , argent . Mr. Cole supposes this effigy to represent the famous Robert de Vere , who died at Louvaine , and was buried in Colne Priory , Nov. 1395 . The second is also a table monument , with five niches on each side , with figures of angels holding shields of arms . On the slab are the effigies of an Earl of Oxford and his Countess ; he is attired in complete armour , with his head resting on a helmet , having a boar as a crest . Round his neck is the collar of the garter , and at his feet a lion . The Countess has a beautiful head - dress of reticulated work , and is in her robe of estate . This monument is to Richard de Vere , tenth Earl of Oxford , and Knight of the Garter , who died Feb. 15 , 1415 , and was interred in the priory church . The Countess was daughter and heir of Sir Richard Sergeaux , Knt . , of Cornwall , and widow of Guy St. Aubin . The third monument of this family is under the chancel wall . It is similar in some