Layer de la Haye (often spelled Layer-de-la-Haye; locally known just as Layer) is a village and civil parish in the City of Colchester district of Essex, England. In the 2011 census it had a recorded population of 1,767.

By Alice Coggeshall, Sir John Tyrell had three sons. All were prominent men, and noted Lancastrians. The eldest, Sir Thomas ((1. 1476), was twice married—on each occasion to ladies of the family of Marney. He was one of those Lancastrians who in 1460, having taken refuge in the Tower of London, were then bombarded by Speaker John (later Lord) Wenlock. His eldest son having predeceased him, he was succeeded by his grandson, Sir William, who had married Eleanor, eldest of the six daughters of Robert Darcy (d. 1448) of Maldon.

A brief History of Layer Marney Tower

Built in the first half of Henry VIII’s reign, Layer Marney Tower is in many ways the apotheosis of the Tudor Palace. It is the creation of Henry 1st Lord Marney, who died in 1523, and his son John, who continued the building work but died just two years later, leaving no male heirs to continue the family line or the construction. What was completed was the main range measuring some three hundred feet long, the principal gatehouse that is about eighty feet tall, a fine array of outbuildings, and a new church.

In building on this scale the Marneys were following the example set by Henry VIII, who believed that a building should reflect the magnificence of its owner. Henry Marney as Lord Privy Seal, Captain of the Bodyguard and holder of many other influential positions clearly intended to display his status this way. Other courtiers were doing the same, and just as they rivalled each other for influence and power at court, so they tried to out-do each other in the splendour of their buildings. The Marneys enthusiastically entered this game of one upmanship, building the tallest of all Tudor Gatehouses, with lavish use of terracotta and stucco, working in decorative detailing derived from Italy. The tomb of Henry, 1st Lord Marney is perhaps the highpoint of all that was built, combining beauty, innovation and a lightness of touch.

On the death of John, 2nd Lord Marney, his young daughters became wards of the Duke of Norfolk and he eventually sold the house to Sir Brian Tuke, Treasurer to the Royal Household and Governor of the King’s Posts. His widowed daughter-in-law entertained Queen Elizabeth 1st in 1579. The Queen most probably only stay a short while, as there are no contemporary notes of her visit beyond a bill for a Courtier’s advance inspection for the trip.

17th – 19th Century

Nicholas Corsellis bought the estate in 1667 for £7,200 with money he had made as a merchant selling indigo, lead and tobacco. He had been educated at Felsted School and soon after buying Layer Marney Tower he gave the living and accompanying Rectory to his old headmaster, the Rev. William Drake. HIs family lived 6 generation at Layer Marney Tower.Mathew Corsellis’ executors sold the estate in 1835 to Quintin Dick, a hughly successful Far East trader and MP for Maldon. He is reputed to have spent more money bribing his constituents than any other MP of the time. It seems to have worked since he held the seat for seventeen years.

During the ownership of the Peache family, the buildings suffered considerable damage from the Great Earthquake of 1884. A subsequent report in The Builder magazine 1886 described the state of the house as such that ‘the outlay needed to restore the tower to anything like a sound and habitable condition would be so large that the chance of the work ever being done appears remote indeed’. Fortunately the repairs were begun, by brother and sister Alfred and Kezia Peache, who re-floored and re-roofed the gatehouse, as well as creating the garden to the south of the Tower. James Calthorpe Peache, their son, went on to add bathrooms, electricity and central heating.

20th – 21st Century

Walter de Zoete, a successful Stockbroker, bought the house in 1901 who carried on the modernisation. The place had an Edwardiian heyday, with a team of 13 domestic and 16 outside staff. He enlarged the gardens, built a folly known as the Tea House (converted to a long let cottage in 1999), and converted the stables into a Long Gallery to house his collection of furniture, paintings and objets d’arts.

The de Marney/Marney family came over from Normandy in the wake of William the Conqueror. The earliest record of the family at Layer Marney dates from 1166, when they were under the overlordship of the Bishop of London. Layer Marney Tower was built between 1515 and 1525 and is the tallest Tudor Gatehouse in the country.

Henry Marney, 1st Baron Marney KG (c. 1447 – 4 May 1523[1]) of Layer Marney, Essex was a politician of the Tudor period in England. He was a favourite of Henry VIII and captain of his guard.[2]

He was the son of John Marney and his wife Joan Throckmorton of the Coughton Court Throckmortons.

He rose to favour in the Royal household of King Henry VII during the battles of Bosworth and Stoke and following the rout of Perkin Warbeck in 1497. He was appointed to the Privy Council.

When King Henry VIII acceded to the Throne in 1509 Marney was made a Knight of the Garter and honoured with a tranche of public offices, including Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Lord Privy Seal, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, Warden of the Stannaries and Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard.[3] Along with the other Knights of the Garter he accompanied Henry VIII in 1520 to his meeting with Francis I of France at the Field of the Cloth of Gold.

He was made Keeper of the Privy Seal and ennobled in the last year of his life as the first Baron Marney.

In 1515 he had begun building the Tudor-style Layer Marney Tower in Layer Marney which is now visited by thousands of people annually. The uncompleted house was inherited by his son, John, Governor of Rochester Castle. John continued the building work but died himself just two years later, leaving no male heirs to continue the family line or to complete the construction of Layer Marney.

Marriage and issue
He died in 1523, having married twice, firstly Thomasine, the daughter of Sir John Arundell and secondly Elizabeth (Isobel), the daughter of Sir Nicholas Wyfold, Lord Mayor of London.[4]

With Thomasine he had three children: John, 2nd Baron Marney (who first married Christian Newburgh (b. 1466 – d. 6 August 1517), daughter of Roger Newburgh, then second married c. 1518 Bridget Waldegrave (d. September 1549); his daughters Catherine and Elizabeth survived him),[5] Catherine (who first married Edward Knyvet of Stanway then upon his death married Thomas Bonham, MP (d. 1532), and had issue),[2] and Thomas, who died young With Elizabeth he had several children, including: Grace (married to Edmund Bedingfield)