The river Colne passes through this parish, and the lands are generally high: it is three miles distant from Halstead, and forty-nine from London.

Before the Conquest, this parish belonged to Ulwin, a freeman; and, at the time of the survey, had been given to Robert Gernon, whose under tenant was Ilger.

These lands were afterwards annexed to the barony of Stansted Montfichet. There were formerly four manors. Of the manor of Caxtons only the name remains, and the Caxtons. traditional information that a piece of land on the northern side of the church-yard, named Caxtons, is the leet.

Hosedens is a corruption of the family name of an ancient owner of this manor. The mansion-house is on the borders of Castle Hedingham parish; has a mean appearance, and is only known from the calling of the court there.

The family of Hoding succeeded that of Gernon, in the possession of this manor, Hoding family. and Caxtons and Dynes; holding also other considerable estates in the county , in the reigns of Henry the Second and Henry the Third. Philip de Hoding married a daughter and co-heiress of Walter de Windsor ; and Ralph , supposed to be his son , held lands here in 1247 . Sir Hugh de Hoding * was his son and heir , and besides the estates here , had possessions in Burnham , Wansted , West Ham , and in Norfolk . His only daughter and heiress , Alice , became the second wife of William de Huntercomb , whose first wife was Isabel , daughter and co - heiress of Robert de Muscamp : by her he had Sir Walter de Huntercombe ; and , by his wife Alice , his second son , Thomas , born in 1258 , who succeeded to his mother's inheritance ; and the last of the family holding these estates was John , the son of John , who died in 1383.7 Succeeding possessors of these manors were , in the reign of King Henry the Sixth , Margaret Popham , and individuals of the families of Lovel and Scudamore: in 1485 , William Scudamore and George Rotherham were in possession , and were succeeded by Philip Scudamore , who died in 1487 ; Anne was his daughter and heiress. In 1496 to 1502 , William Scudamore , of Home Lacy , in Herefordshire , and George Rotherham , are mentioned in records as holding this estate , which afterwards passed into the noble family of Vere, and became the marriage portion of Catharine , daughter of John de Vere , and , by this lady , was conveyed to her husband , Lord Windsor , who , in 1564 , sold it to Edmund Felton , Esq . of Pentlow Hall , of whom it was purchased , in 1565 , by John Holmested , of Bumpsted Helion ; and it passed from this family, in 1575 , to William Dean , Esq . who soon afterwards united the three manors of Hosedens, Caxtons, and Dynes, into one possession.