COLNE ENGAINE
WHITE'S DIRECTORY OF ESSEX 1848
COLNE ENGAINE is a village and parish on the north side of the river Colne, 2½ miles E. of Halstead, and about a mile N.W. of Earl's Colne. It contains 685 souls and 2444A. of land. It derived its distinguishing appellation from the Engaine family, its ancient lords, who held the manor from 1218 till about 1370, after which it passed to the Cheney, Clarke, Dale, and Ramsey families. About 1600, Lady Mary Ramsey gave the manor of Colne Engaine to the Governors of Christ's Hospital, London, as an augmentation of the endowment of that valuable charity; but a great part of the parish is in other manors, and belongs to various proprietors, mostly freeholders. Robert Hills, Esq., is lord of the manors of Goldingtons and Shreves, and resides at COLNE PARK, a delightful seat, on the latter estate, about a mile E. of the village. Shreves was held by St. Botolph's Priory, Colchester, and was sold in 1762 to Michael Hills, Esq., whose son left it to Philip Hills, Esq., who greatly improved the house and cased it with white brick. It has since been enlarged by the present owner, who has ornamented it with a handsome Grecian portico; and has erected in the grounds a lofty and elegant Ionic column of Portland stone, in memory of the late proprietor. OVERHALL, about a mile N.E. of the church, is the manor seat of J.J. Mayhew, Esq., and pays a peppercorn yearly to the lord of the manor of Witnesham-with-Cockfelde, in Suffolk, if demanded. It was long held by the London family, together with the adjoining manor of Bromtons or Bruntons. Henry Skingley, Esq., and several smaller owners have estates here, and on the west side of the parish are, Booses GREEN and several scattered houses. The parish is encompassed on two sides by the Colne and one of its tributary streams. The Church (St. Andrew,) is an ancient structure, except its handsome brick tower which appears to have been erected in the reign of Henry VII., and is crowned by a spire. The rectory, valued in K.B. at £13. 17s. 6d., and in 1831 at £700, is in the patronage of the Governors of Christ's Hospital, and incumbency of the Rev. John Greenwood, D.D., who has 52A. of glebe, and a handsome modern Rectory House, half a mile from the church, commanding beautiful prospects. The tithes have been commuted for £750 per annum. The parish has a National School and an Agricultural Society. The poor have £4 yearly as the rent of 2A. of land, given by Wm. Littell, lord of the manor of Goldington, in 1697, subject to the annual payment of 1s. to the lord of the said manor. The sexton has had, from time immemorial, about an acre of land called the Sexton's Orchard.
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales...., by John Marius Wilson. circa 1866
COLNE-ENGAINE, or LITTLE COLNE, a village and parish in Halstead district, Essex. The village occupies a rising-ground on the left side of the river Colne, 1½ mile WNW of Colne r. station, and 2½ ESE of Halstead; and has a post-office of the name of Colne-Engaine, under Halstead. The parish comprises 2,111 acres. Real property, £4,680. Pop., 627. Houses, 142. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged anciently to the Engaines; and passed to the Sherreves, to Colchester priory, and to the De Veres. Colne Park is a principal residence; and near it is an Ionic column by Soane. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £680. Patron, Christ's Hospital. The church is very good.
Transcribed by Noel Clark
KELLY'S DIRECTORY OF ESSEX 1933
COLNE ENGAINE received its surname from a family of Engaine, who were lords of the manor in the 12th century, and is a village and parish on the north bank of the river Colne, half a mile north-west from Earls Colne station on the London and North Eastern railway, 2¾ miles east from Halstead, 5 north from Coggeshall, and 54 from London, in the Saffron Walden division of the county, Witham division of Lexden hundred, Halstead petty sessional division and rural district, Colchester, Clacton and Halstead joint county court district, Halstead and Hedingham rural deanery, Colchester archdeaconry and Chelmsford diocese. The church of St. Andrew is an edifice of flint and stone, and consists of chancel, nave, south porch and an embattled western tower containing 6 bells, dated 1624, 1675, 1760, 1882 (two) and 1906: the nave is probably early 12th century and the chancel of the 13th century: the tower is of Tudor brick, about 1500: the tower was restored in 1928 at a cost of £800, borne by Miss K. M. Courtauld: in the chancel are sedilia and a piscina: in 1910 the walls of the chancel were covered with paintings at a cost of about £150: four of the windows are stained, one being a memorial to Mrs. Sewell, and the others the the Rev. William Webster, a former rector, Mr. and Mrs. Ricketts and Mrs. J. J. Dumville Botterell, respectively: a marble slab, the gift of Miss Gladstone, was placed in the church in memory of the sixteen men who fell in the Great War, 1914-1918: the church was thoroughly restored in 1873 and has 300 sittings: a lych gate was erected in 1897 by subscription, to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. The register dates from the year 1620. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £704, with residence and glebe, in the gift of the Lord Mayor and Commonalty of the City of London as governors of Christ's Hospital, and held since 1932 by the Rev. Preb. Arthur Chilton M.V.O., D.D. of Christ Church, Oxford. The Village Hall was erected in 1921 by Miss K. M. Courtauld, in memory of George Courtauld esq. of Cut Hedge. Colne Park is the property and residence of Sir James Adam C.B.E., K.C., J.P.; the mansion was built in 1775 and is situated in a park of 100 acres, containing a lofty Ionic column of Portland stone, erected in 1791 by John Soane esq. F.R.S., F.S.A. architect (afterwards knighted). A recreation ground, which is entered by an oak memorial arch, was purchased by public subscription. Miss Katherine Mina Courtauld and George F. Brown esq. are the principal landowners. The soil is mostly heavy; subsoil, gravelly. The chief crops are wheat, barley and oats. The area is 2,421 acres of land and 8 of water; the population in 1931 was 624 in the civil, and of the ecclesiastical parish in 1921, 561.
Under the provisions of the "Divided Parishes Act," a detached part of White Colne was added to Colne Engaine.
Buntings Green is 1 mile west, Booses Green half a mile north-west and Countess Cross 1½ miles north-east.
Post & Tel. Call Office. Letters from Earls Colne, Essex, nearest M. O. & Halstead nearest T. office.