EARLS COLNE HERITAGE MUSEUM
The Domesday Book
The Domesday Book lists a number of Manors in this part of the Colne Valley, the largest of which it records as ‘Coles’. Later, it was known as Great Colne, Monks Colne (after the Priory) and, when the de Vere family were granted the Earldom of Oxford in 1142, as Colne Comitis or ‘the Earl’s Colne’.
Before the Norman Conquest, the Manor was held by a Saxon lord called Wulfwine.
After 1066, King William granted it to Aubrey De Vere, grandfather of the first Earl of Oxford, along with many other estates in eastern England, including those at Lavenham, Chelmsford, Maldon and a ‘town house’ called Earls Court.
Before the Norman Conquest, the Manor was held by a Saxon lord called Wulfwine.
After 1066, King William granted it to Aubrey De Vere, grandfather of the first Earl of Oxford, along with many other estates in eastern England, including those at Lavenham, Chelmsford, Maldon and a ‘town house’ called Earls Court.
Photograph by J. Watt © Earls Colne Heritage Museum
Aubrey de Vere made Castle Hedingham his headquarters, but Earls Colne seems to have been his ‘weekend retreat’. His manor house stood on land south of the church and the whole of the southern area of the village was his deer park. The road which led from the manor house to the deer park is still called Park Lane and the moated hunting lodge is now Lodge Farm.
Photograph by J. Watt © Earls Colne Heritage Museum
