WAKES COLNE (2,058 a. or 833 ha.) lies on the north bank of the river Colne c. 8 miles west of Colchester, occupies a ridge between the valleys of the Colne and the Stour. A site overlooking the brook on the western boundary of the parish was occupied from the Roman to the later medieval period as there is a narrow band of alluvium along the Colne, and a larger patch of sand and gravel extends from the church to Crepping Hall. The ancient parish (1,935 a.) was bounded by the Colne on part of the south, a small tributary on much of the west, and the Cambridge (earlier Jennyes or Loveney Hall) brook on part of the north; the eastern boundary with Fordham followed field boundaries. Crepping, presumably a separate estate, extended into the later parishes of Fordham and Chappel. Its name contains the element 'ingas', 'followers of', with a lost personal name, and may date from the early or mid Anglo-Saxon period. The higher land is boulder clay, but the Colne, the Cambridge brook, and the brook near Crepping Hall have all exposed bands of London clay with Kesgrave sand and gravel in their valleys.
By the 10th century Wakes Colne formed part of a large estate which took its name from the river Colne, and which belonged to the ealdormen of Essex. Detachments dated from the 16th century or earlier; the mid 19th century parish comprising two main areas, separated by parts of Mount Bures and Chappel parishes, and four smaller detached areas, three (6 a.) in Chappel and one (2 a.) in White Colne. There are three moated sites in the parish, including the manor houses of Crepping and Little Loveney Halls. The third moat, on high ground on the eastern side of Allcocks green, may have surrounded the house occupied by Gilbert the reeve in 1400 and by the Allcock family in the 17th century.
WHITE COLNE ancient parish of White Colne took its name from its Domesday tenant Miblanc, lies on the north bank of the river Colne c. 12 miles west of Colchester and c. 4 miles east of Halstead near a paleolithic Chalkney mill on a site which also produced mesolithic flints and possible pit dwellings. There were 7 recorded tenants in 1086. It was bounded on the south by the Colne, on the east by a small tributary sometimes called the Reading brook, on the north by the Cambridge brook, and on the west by field boundaries. In 1676 the parish officers agreed with those of Earls Colne that the north-east side of the Colchester road on Colneford hill was in White Colne, and other minor adjustments to the western boundaries were made between 1744 and 1840, probably c. 1805. Fields in the northwest corner of the parish, where in 1876 an area of White Colne was detached in Colne Engaine, were already in both parishes in the 17th century. The road from Cambridge through Halstead and Earls Colne to Colchester, turnpiked in 1765, runs through the southern edge of White Colne parish. Between 1142 and 1150, Aubrey de Vere, earl of Oxford, gave to Colne priory half the vill of Colne Miblanc. The priory held the estate until the Dissolution, at first exploiting it directly as an outlying farm, from which it acquired the name BERWICK. The priory apparently acquired one or more of the small Colne estates held in 1086 by Richard son of Gilbert de Clare, for in 1424 it owed suit to the honor court of Clare for Berwick, and the manor was said to be held of the honor c. 1600.
WAKES COLNE manor of 1 hide and 30 a. in Colne held by Assorin in 1066 was held by Robert Malet in demesne in 1086, and with Robert's other lands formed the honor of Eye. Henry II granted the manor in 1174 to Saher de Quency, from whom it passed to his brother Robert (d. c. 1197) and to Robert's son Saher de Quency, earl of Winchester. In 1066 the arable on Wakes Colne manor was worked by 3 demesne and 5 tenants' ploughs; in 1086 by 3 demesne and 4 tenants' ploughs. A sokeman had a further ˝ plough on his freeyardland. On Alward's two Crepping estates, which extended into Chappel, there were 2 ploughs in 1066 and 1˝ in 1086. There was ˝ plough on the St. Edmund's abbey estate, and 1 plough on the 5 sokemen's 94 a. There was 13 a. of meadow in Wakes Colne manor in 1086, and probably 16 a. on the later Crepping manor. In the later 14th century there was 12 a. or 15 a. of meadow on the Wakes Hall demesne alone. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries there was also meadow at Pardon valley, on the White Colne boundary, and near Allcocks green. In 1066 Alward held 68˝ a. and 1 yardland in CREPPING which in 1086 was held by Richard son of Gilbert de Clare and Modwin. Walter of Windsor held land in Crepping which escheated to the crown in 1186. By 1195 Walter of Crepping probably held the estate, later two thirds of a knight's fee in Colne and Crepping. By 1209 he held a further yardland in Crepping of Bury St. Edmund's abbey, presumably the 36-a. estate which the abbey held in Colne in 1066 and 1086. He or his predecessors had probably also acquired 94 a. in Colne and Fordham held by 5 sokemen in 1066 and by Richard de Clare in 1086. Part of the Little Colne estate held of Robert Malet by Walter of Caen in 1086 extended into Wakes Colne where it formed the freehold or submanor of Serdeleshey or LOVENEY HALL.
In 1086 there was a recorded population of 25, including 3 servi, on Wakes Colne manor, and 14 on the 4 estates which formed the later Crepping manor. Wakes Colne manor, with woodland for 400 swine in 1086, was one of the most heavily wooded manors in the Colne valley, but part of its wood was probably in Colne Engaine. On the four estates which later formed Crepping manor there was pasture for 112 swine. As in other areas of north Essex, clearance was rapid. That it was in progress by 1066 is indicated by the numbers of bordarii recorded that year; there were 15 bordarii to 7 villani on Wakes Colne manor and 9 bordarii were the only recorded tenants in Crepping.
The surviving church dates from the 12th century. Robert Malet gave the tithe of his demesne to Eye priory c. 1085. The rectory was not valued in 1254. Colne Priory was founded as a cell to the abbey of Abingdon in Berkshire. Godfrey de Vere, the eldest son of Aubrey de Vere and Beatrice his wife, had been cured of an illness by Faritius, abbot of Abingdon, and when later he died of another illness he was buried in the abbey. Abbot Faritius placed six monks at Colne originally, and afterwards increased the number to twelve. The founder himself became a monk in the priory and was buried there, as were also his youngest son William and a large number of his successors and their relatives, including thirteen earls of Oxford. The patronage of the priory remained with the de Veres through the whole of its history. On his deathbed he granted to the monks the church of Kensington in Middlesex, and his parents confirmed this; but, on account of the distance of Abingdon from Essex, they determined, instead of making further grants, to found a monastery on their own land of Colne, to be subject to Abingdon. The consent of the king and of Maurice, bishop of London, was obtained, and the foundation was confirmed by a charter of the king in 1111. Faritius became abbot in 1101 and Maurice died in 1107, and so the date of the priory can be placed between fairly narrow limits.