Peakes, recorded in 1347, and Headborough, recorded in 1403, both in Tey Road, have developed from early 17th-century lobby-entrance houses. Built at the end of the 17th century or early in the 18th are Crapes, in Rectory Road, Chase Cottage, behind Bentalls, and Brick Cottages, Brook Road. The manor of Prayers is located in Hinckford Hundred, Parish of Sible-Hedinham, Essex County, England, and is believed to date from the reign of Edward the Confessor, (1042-1066 or from William the Conquorer (1071-1085.) About 1274, Sir Thomas de Preyers held a moiety of the maner of Great Malden in Dengey Hundred, Malden, Essex, by the service of half a Knight's fee. In the yeare 1309 Sir John de Preyer passed by fine for the sum of 100 pounds sterling, the estate of Bourchiers-Hall, in Lexden Hundred, Messing, Essex. There is another maner near there, called Pryors, or Prayours, from whence it borrowed its name, about 1582. In the early 19th century, the village, which included the hamlet of For Street, consisted of 1,280 acres of arable land, twenty-two acres of common or waste land, one hundred and twenty three acres of meadown, eighty three acres of woodland and a population of three hundred and seventy.
The manor of LITTLE FORDHAM or BOURCHIERS HALL seems to derive partly from the 40 a. in Fordham held by Wisgar in 1066 and by Richard son of Gilbert de Clare in 1086, and partly from land held of Eustace of Boulogne, perhaps the 1½ hide berewick of Great Tey. The 3-a. encroachment in Fordham held by Tovillda in 1066 and by Richard de Clare in 1086 was probably also absorbed into the manor. The only demesne tenant recorded in 1066 and 1086 was Ulmar, a sokeman, who held the 40-a. estate in Fordham. Laurence seems to have granted it to Abel of St. Martin, whose widow Margery held a third of the manor in dower in 1280. By 1274 Thomas of St. Martin was lord, and before 1280 he subinfeudated the manor to Benet of Blakenham. Between 1311 and 1313 Robert of St. Martin conveyed his interest, with Abels manor in Halstead, to John Bourchier, who was succeeded by Robert Bourchier before 1329. The assizes of Little Fordham were presumably adjourned to 'Fordham' in 1327 for the convenience of the justice, John Bourchier, lord of Bourchiers Hall or Little Fordham manor, rather than because of any disturbances there. In 1353 it presumably escheated to John Bourchier who held it in demesne at his death in 1400. The ford over the Colne in Fordstreet, recorded in 1235 and c. 1350, was bridged before 1485. The manor was said to be held of the honor of Boulogne in 1400 and 1409. It will be seen on reference to the descent, that the first three generations of the Bourchiers were settled at Poukleston (most probably Bockleton near Tenbury), in Worcestershire. Bourchiers, Earls of Essex, and the armorial bearing assigned to them are as distinct as could possibly have been devised. It seems almost certain, however, that he never resided there, and dying at his house in Lombard Street, in 1594, within about seven years after he had bought the property, was buried in the church of S. Edmund the King and Martyr, with heraldic honours, his funeral certificate, with escocheon emblazoned, being entered in the records of the College of Arms.
The nobility of Essex took a leading part in the struggle for the charter, and of the twenty-four guardians of the charter, four were Essex barons. The castles of Pleshey, Colchester, and Hedingham were held against the king in the Barons' War of the reign of Henry III., and 5000 Essex men joined the peasant rising of 1381. During the Wars of the Roses the Lancastrian cause was supported by the dt Veres, while the Bourchiers and LORD, JOHN (1810-1894) Lord Fitz-Walter were among the Yorkist leaders. Several Essex men were concerned in the Gunpowder Plot, and in the Civil War of the 17th century the county rendered valuable aid to the parliament.
OVERTON (Wapentake of Bulmer) was the principal country residence of the Abbots of St. Mary's, York, but their house had disappeared before Drake published his "Eboracum in 1736. The hall and estate remained with the Crown from the dissolution of the abbey till 1563, when they were sold by Queen Elizabeth to one John Herbert. The estate afterwards came into the possession of the Bourchiers, from whom it passed to Mrs. Earle, heiress of that family, and was sold in 1827 to Viscount Downe, from whom it has descended to the present owner. The village stands on the bank of the Ouse, about five miles above York, The church, dedicated to St. Cuthbert, was rebuilt by the Hon. Payan Dawnay in 1855, on the site of the ancient edifice. The township is in the union of Great Ouseburn. The village is pleasantly situated on the great north road, about 5½ miles north of York, and near the river Ouse. There is a station here on the North Eastern main line. A handsome church was erected and endowed by the Hon. Payan Dawnay in 1849. The school, a brick building in the Gothic style, stands in the centre of the village. It was originally founded as a free school in 1655 by Ann Middleton, who endowed it with a rent-charge of £40 a year, payable out of Shipton estate.
MOTTS COTTAGE in Rectory Road, probably named for its tenant in 1401, is a late 15th century, two-bayed hall with a storeyed east bay and crown-post roof, into which a floor and chimney stack were inserted in the late 16th century; a two-storeyed west bay was added in the 17th century. The only piece of that original cottage which is left is the timber and stone rubble section. The assizes were presumably adjourned to 'Fordham' in 1327 for the convenience of the justice, John Bourchier, lord of Bourchiers Hall or Little Fordham manor, rather than because of any disturbances there. In 1450 two Aldham men were involved in the aftermath of Cade's rebellion. ROSE COTTAGE, now one of a range of three houses, incorporates part of a small 15th- century hall with massive down-bracing. The Old Carpentry and the Old Bakery, a single late 15th or early 16th century house with hall, north cross wing, and possibly south service end, may occupy the site of a medieval chapel and priest's house. The town's first Catholic Church was a wooden shed. St Patrick's is a comment on the strong Irish community which settled at Port Fairy. It was completed in 1858. On one occasion the vibration from the firing was so great that it broke some windows in the Moyne Mill over the river.
ALDHAM HALL the estate then descended with Goldingtons manor, Colne Engaine, to John Goldington (fl. 1358) who apparently alienated it, probably to Robert Tey (d. by 1384). In 1305 John de Prayere and his wife Anne conveyed a third of the estate to William Goldington, and c. 1313 Ralph of Aldham conveyed the reversion of the remainder to Robert Tey. Robert seems to have been succeeded before 1325 by his son Robert who in 1342 acquired a small freehold called Hodgkins which descended with and occasionally gave its name to the manor there- after. He or another Robert Tey held the estates in 1360, but was succeeded before 1384 by his son Robert who still held in 1401. to his son Robert (d. 1426), to the younger Robert's son John (d. 1440-1), to John's son John (d. by 1463), (fn. 95) to the younger John's son Robert (d. 1473), to Robert's son William (d. 1502), to William's son Thomas (d. 1543), and to Thomas's son John (d. 1568). John's son Thomas (d. c. 1586) was succeeded by his brother William (d. 1595).
There was a common well in Earls Colne by 1390, perhaps the same town well from which the bucket and rope were stolen in 1576, but many houses had their own wells. The manor court regulated the opening hours of taverns, but not of inns, in 1442. A riot in 1471, in which 11 armed men, all but one from Halstead, broke into three houses in Earls Colne and attacked their owners, may have been connected with the earl of Oxford's support for the failed restoration of Henry VI. A bridge had been built over the Colne at Colneford by c. 1135. The earliest greens was Tollhouse green, at the west end of High Street, recorded in 1378; it was being encroached on by 1512 if not by 1421. Near the corner of Church Hill and Park Lane were Church green and Hall green, which were either adjoining areas of grass between the churchyard and Park Lane or alternative names for the same green. By c. 1380 two other bridges, Scaldemorys bridge and Little Colne bridge, led to Colne Engaine. One was presumably the later Stone bridge on the Halstead road and the other the bridge over the Colne on the modern Station Road; either may have been the Gaines Colne bridge for whose repair 20 marks was left c. 1450. Mill green in Tey Road, on the site of Holmwood Farm, may have been the mill green which had been encroached on by 1395.
COLNE PRIORY the medieval manor house stood south of the church, but by 1487 it had been replaced by one in the priory. Earls Colne woodland was being managed in 1430, and deer were kept in 1464 and 1497 among another branch in the prehistoric or Roman period the road from Colchester to Halstead and Cambridge. In 1509 that house contained a great chamber and at least four other chambers, one above a porch. The house, then called Colne House, was repaired in 1563-4. In 1598 there were three domestic buildings with halls and cross wings on the site, linked by walled and fenced courts, as well as two cottages and barns; the largest house may have been that described in 1631 as having a hall, parlour, dining chamber, middle room, great chamber, 17 other chambers, and garrets. Old Lodge Farm incorporates a 15th-century fragment of the Great Lodge. Timber-framed and almost square in plan with a west chimney stack, it had a ground floor room with a fireplace, probably a kitchen, and an unheated room above. The building may have continued to the north and west. Abutting but detached from its east side is a two-storeyed hall range with west cross wing, probably built or adapted as a farm- house after disparking c. 1575. The remains can perhaps be identified with the house which stood in 1598, and which had two cross wings, one much larger than the other and with a large stack. Edward de Vere, earl of Oxford, sold the former park to Roger Harlakenden in 1584, and Roger settled part of it, the Great Lodge and 380 a., on his younger son Thomas.
A tavern or wine tavern in the High Street between the maypole and the church gate, was recorded from 1517 to 1631. The priory repaired the bridge c. 1530, and c. 1560 the earl of Oxford rebuilt it in brick, stone, and timber. Sir Thomas Audley, later Lord Audley, chan- cellor 1533-44, was born in Earls Colne. Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton (1786-1845), phil- anthropist, prison reformer, and opponent of the slave trade, spent his early childhood in the parish.
HOE FARM a late-medieval fragment of a mansion the rest of which was probably built soon after 1554. In 1331 Richard at Hoo held a small estate, later HOE farm (from 'hoh', a ridge of land) in the west of Aldham, and in 1350 his son Henry held it of Aldham manor. The estate appar- ently passed to Roger at Hoo (d. 1372) and then to his daughter Maud, but in 1370 or 1371 Oliver at Hoo acquired an additional 30 a. of land at Badwood, held of Great Tey manor by knight service. Before 1414 Oliver and his daughter Margery acquired a further 24 a. called Sompnors, similarly held of Great Tey manor. By 1430 Oliver's son Richard held the estates, which passed by 1435 to William Panell. The Hoe became separated from Sompnors, being held between 1443 and 1450 by John Warin and passing in 1473 to Roger Draper whose son Roger had acquired Sompnors by 1493. Roger's son William held the estate in 1530, and in 1554 sold it to his son-in-law William Beriff, whose son William held it freely of Aldham Hall manor in 1595. In 1455 a small estate (40 a.) in the north-east corner of Aldham was held by St. John's abbey, Colchester, with Bulbecks in Copford, with which it descended thereafter.
Earls Colne woodland was being managed in 1430, and deer were kept in 1464 and 1497. The land was disparked shortly before 1577, and by 1598 had been largely con- verted to arable. In the prehistoric or Roman period the road from Colchester to Halstead and Cambridge, or a branch of it, turnpiked in 1765 and may have run further south, through the later Chalkney wood. The Coggeshall road leaves the Colchester road in the village and runs south through the middle of the parish. In 1555 repair of the road between Colne gate, perhaps on the Markshall boundary, and a cross, probably at Rushpit green by the inhabitants of Earls Colne were frequently ordered to repair the road in the 17th century when most of the eight greens recorded in the 16th and 17th centuries were small areas of roadside grazing on which cottages were soon built. Women were accused of witchcraft in 1581 and 1590, and a man of sorcery in 1587. The Robin Hood's oak on Colneford Hill in 1574 may have been associated with tales of the outlaw.
BOURCHIERS HALL the manor descended with the barony of Bourchier to Anne, daughter and heir of Henry Bourchier, earl of Essex, whose husband William Parr in 1541 settled it on himself and his heirs. Parr, then marquis of Northampton, forfeited his estates in 1556, and Bourchiers Hall was granted to Robert Rochester (d. 1557), who devised it to Syon convent. The manor escheated to the crown on the dissolution of the convent in 1559, and was regranted to Parr in 1566. In 1580 bridge repairs were the joint responsibility of the lords of Bourchiers Hall in Aldham and of Fordham Hall in Fordham.