Earls Colne: Economic history

ECONOMIC HISTORY

AGRICULTURE. The arable on Earls Colne manor probably increased between 1066 and 1086, as the number of demesne ploughs rose from 3 to 5, and of tenants' ploughs from 3 to four. The livestock, some of it presumably grazed on the 40 a. of meadow on the manor, increased, from 39 cattle, 120 sheep, 60 swine, and 60 goats in 1066 to 45 cattle, 160 sheep, 80 swine, and 80 goats in 1086. The 20 mares recorded in 1086 were presumably a stud. There was still wood for 400 swine on the manor, whose total value had risen from £10 to £12. (fn. 1) The manor was divided in the early 12th century when Aubrey de Vere endowed Colne priory with over 140 a. of land. His successors added to the endowment, and by 1598 the priory manor covered nearly half the parish. (fn. 2)

Most of the meadow presumably lay along the Colne and Bourne brook, with small amounts along the streams in the centre of the parish. (fn. 3) The 12 a. of demesne meadow recorded on the earl's manor in the 13th and 14th centuries, which was waste in 1264, may have been in the later Hall meadow (16 a.) or in the nearby Rush mead, which by 1418 was leased to a tenant. (fn. 4) Several tenants held meadow in parcels of 3 r. (fn. 5) In 1598 there was a total of 72 a. of meadow on the two manors, including a small common meadow on Bourne brook; by 1838 there was 263 a. in the parish, and by 1905 that had increased to 394 a. of meadow and 135 a. of pasture. (fn. 6)

In the earlier 12th century the earls gave the priory five woods: Dodepolesho near the Colne in the north-west corner of the parish, the unidentified North or Nether wood, Little Hey wood (later Richards Grove) in the centre of the parish, Chalkney wood on its eastern edge, and Chiffen wood west of Chalkney wood. (fn. 7) North and Chiffen woods were not recorded again, and Dodepolesho wood had been stubbed up by c. 1380. (fn. 8) Chalkney wood, where coppicing was reintroduced in 1974, (fn. 9) and Richards Grove sur- vived in 1998. Hausers Hedge wood, on the earl's demesne on the south-eastern parish boundary, was recorded c. 1380, and by 1598 the adjoining Bettingsland, which had been a croft in 1480, was also woodland. Hausers Hedge was cleared between 1803 and 1806 and Bettingsland between 1810 and 1811. (fn. 10)

Both the earls and the priory kept their manors in demesne throughout the Middle Ages. By the 1370s the earl's manor was let to a farmer and the priory's demesne was being leased. (fn. 11) The change may have caused the con- traction of the earl's demesne, from c. 320 a. (excluding the park) in 1264 to c. 200 a. in 1360. Low field, demesne land leased in four or more parcels in 1445, had become 11 or 12 copyhold closes by 1598. (fn. 12) Southfield (80 a. with its adjoining marsh) and Sandhill (47 a.), leased by the prior from the earl's demesne in 1493 and 1521, were held of the priory manor in eight and nine parcels in 1598. (fn. 13) In 1264 the earl's free tenants paid 70s. 6d. rent; unfree tenants held 105½1/2; a. for rents totalling 41s. 1d. and labour services worth 24s. The labour services, includ- ing reaping and mowing, were commuted be- tween 1360 and 1430. (fn. 14) Freeholds of 36 a. and 16 a. recorded in 1393, probably on the earl's manor, seem to have been compact blocks of land. (fn. 15) Early medieval customary tenants appear to have held small amounts of uninclosed land in fields or crofts, but such holdings were being inclosed by 1330 when a tenant surrendered ½1/2; a. in Eldeknolle field, ½1/2; a. inclosed next Sandhill, and 1 a. in Eldeknolle. (fn. 16)

In 1598 Earls Colne manor comprised 858 a. of demesne land (mainly in the former park), 142 a. of freehold, and 620 a. of copyhold; Colne Priory manor comprised 621 a. of demesne, 23 a. of freehold, and 439 a. of copyhold. The only large freehold estate was Procknutts (96 a.) on Earls Colne manor, and the only large, long- established copyholds, were Hayhouse (80 a.) on Earls Colne manor, and Curds (52 a.) on the priory manor. The tenants' land was concen- trated in the north-west quarter and the south- east tip of the parish, and was organized into small, inclosed, and usually ditched, fields. Most holdings were fairly compact, but Procknutts included land on both the northern and southern parish boundaries. (fn. 17)

The chief crops on both demesnes in the mid 14th century were wheat and oats, with some peas; on the priory manor, barley, dredge, and rye were also grown. The earl's stock in 1378 included 21 cows and 6 calves, and the priory's in 1374-5 a bull and 24 calves; lambs, poultry, milk, and eggs were received as tithes and rents. In 1440 the priory sold 44 fleeces. The 36-a. freehold in 1393 produced wheat and oats and supported 8 sheep; on the 16-a. one there were 12 sheep and 2 cows. (fn. 18) Tenants' flocks and herds of up to 24 sheep and 23 cattle were recorded in 1418. (fn. 19)

The priory had agistment in the park for 20 cattle in 1360; for only 16 in 1374. In 1376 the tenant of a house and 3 a. of arable had pasture there for 4 cattle and 4 pigs, and in 1409 another grazed 3 more cattle than he was allowed. In 1410 and 1413 a total of 22 men had rights in the park, grazing 44 animals in 1410 and 78 in 1414. (fn. 20) In 1513 a freehold estate in Earls Colne, Markshall, and Feering, had pasture for 6 cattle in the park. (fn. 21) In 1505 a man trespassed in Chalkney wood with 7 bullocks, and in 1554 the inhabitants of Holt Street were forbidden to go into the wood without licence. (fn. 22)

In the early 17th century the arable on Little Lodge farm (c. 170 a.) appears to have been farmed on a three-course rotation of two crops and a fallow. Wheat, rye, barley, oats, and peas were grown, and livestock included 19 cows, 1 bull, 6 calves, 95 sheep, 32 lambs, and 20 hogs. (fn. 23) On the Harlakenden estate cattle were kept both for their meat and for their milk, which was used for butter and cheese. (fn. 24) A three-course rotation apparently continued in 1767, but by then tur- nips and clover were probably grown on the fallow. In 1794 the parish contained good turnip land, and a lease of 1826 excepted beans, peas, clover, and turnips from the prohibition against taking more than two crops in succession. (fn. 25) Hops were grown from 1605 or earlier, and c. 1770 land on Colneford hill produced straw- berries, apples, and pears in commercial quan- tities. (fn. 26) The planting of rape (presumably wild rape or charlock), mustard, hemp, teazel, and woad was forbidden by 19th-century leases, which prescribed a rotation of (1) barley or other spring corn, (2) clover or other artificial grass with some peas or beans, (3) wheat or other corn, (4) fallow or turnips, mangold, cole seed or tares. (fn. 27) By the 1860s seed-growing and market- gardening were becoming important. (fn. 28)

Thirty people, including the earl of Oxford, were assessed for subsidy in 1327 at a total of c. 54s., individual assessments ranging from the earl's 7s. 9d. down to 9d. (fn. 29) The number assessed and the total assessment, excluding the earl's, were slightly above average for the hundred. In 1523 a total of 111 people was assessed, 73 in Earls Colne and 38 in the earl's household at Colne priory; numbers fell to 89 in 1525 when only 14 were assessed at the priory. In 1523 over half of those assessed were assessed on wages or earnings; in 1525 only about a third. Only 47 people were assessed in both years, 10 of them on wages. (fn. 30) From the 1530s members of the Cressener family built up an estate in the parish. By 1598 George Cressener held a total of c. 33 a.; his grandson, another George, lived in the second largest house in the parish in 1671 and enlarged his holding by the purchase of another house and 140 a. in 1676. (fn. 31) The estate passed to his sons John (d. 1715) and Edward (d. 1722), and to Edward's daughter Elizabeth Clifford. (fn. 32)

In 1758 the largest of the 36 tithable holdings in the parish, comprising Warren and Night- ingales farms in the former park, was over 373 a.; Oliver Johnson, who held Hayhouse and Curds, had 176 a., and five farmers each held between 100 a. and 150 a. (fn. 33) The larger land- owners extended their farms, until in 1838 R. O. Johnson's Hayhouse farm comprised 405 a., Nightingale Hall 356 a., Tilekiln c. 281 a., and Hungry Hall 264 a. farmed by Jonathan Hutley, a pioneer of artificial manures. Colne Green, Burnthouse, and Mills farms were all over 100 a. (fn. 34) In 1851 Green farm (601 a.) was the largest in the parish, followed by Hayhouse (400 a.), Tilekiln (341 a.), and Nightingale Hall (310 a.); two others were over 200 a. Hayhouse had increased to 1,500 a. by 1861, and to 4,231 a., of which 3,211 a. lay outside the parish, by 1881. In 1871 Hungry Hall comprised 396 a., and Mills farm 340 a., but by 1881 no farm other than Hayhouse was over 300 a. (fn. 35)

In 1841 nearly half the working population was employed on the land. In 1851 there were as many as 235 farm labourers, only 147 of whom were regularly employed on farms in the parish. Seventy-three labourers' wives or daughters worked as straw-plaiters, 21 as tam- bour lace-makers. The growing numbers of pro- fessional or independent residents employed a total of 53 servants. The number of agricultural labourers fell steadily to 143 in 1891. Straw- plaiting was in decline by 1871, when only 46 women were so employed, and had ceased by 1891; tambour lace-making employed 20 women in 1871 and only 2 in 1891. By then the number of domestic servants had risen to 95. (fn. 36)

In 1905 the parish was predominantly arable, its farms having 2,398 a. under crop and 529 a. of permanent grass. Wheat was grown on 439 a., barley on 357 a., oats on 241½1/2; a., turnips and swedes on 161 a., and mangolds on 104 a.; smaller quantities of peas, beans, vetches, cab- bage, lucerne, and potatoes were grown. Live- stock included 115 cattle, 513 sheep, 483 lambs, and 212 pigs. (fn. 37) During the Second World War the arable was greatly extended, and new crops, including linseed, sunflowers, and opium poppies, were introduced. In 1974 Hayhouse (520 a.) was the largest farm in the parish. The introduction of machinery had led to the amalgamation of fields and a reduction in the number of farm workers in the parish to c. 17. One small farm specialized in pig rearing. (fn. 38)

MILLS. The two mills recorded in 1086 (fn. 39) were presumably the later Colneford and Chalk- ney mills. Colneford mill was given to Colne priory at its foundation, and descended with the priory manor thereafter, although ownership was disputed in the early 17th century. (fn. 40) The priory carried out major repairs in 1374 and again in 1424-5 when the purchase of three stones suggests the mill was a double one. (fn. 41) In 1611 it was rebuilt as a corn and fulling mill. In the late 18th century it was rebuilt as a three- storeyed timber building, with three pairs of stones worked by an undershot wheel 20 ft. in diameter. (fn. 42) The miller employed 15 men in 1851 and 14 in 1871, when he was also a maltster. The prohibition, made in 1857 and 1881, on the use of a steam engine may have contributed to the mill's closure by 1890; it was demolished in 1891. (fn. 43)

Chalkney mill, on the boundary between Earls Colne and White Colne, belonged to Colne priory c. 1140. (fn. 44) The half mill in White Colne which Earl Aubrey de Vere gave or confirmed to the priory c. 1148, (fn. 45) was presumably part of the same mill. In the 15th century it was free- hold, but by 1608 Richard Harlakenden was leasing it to millers. (fn. 46) It descended with the priory manor until 1919, although ownership was disputed in the early 17th century. (fn. 47) In 1517 and 1563 the mill was a fulling mill, but in 1631 and 1754 it was a corn or flour mill only. In 1802 the breast-shot wheel turned two pairs of stones. (fn. 48) The miller employed 5 men in 1861; the miller and corn merchant 14 men and 3 boys in 1881. The mill worked four pairs of stones until the early 1930s. (fn. 49)

A mill built in the 14th century on the north bank of the Colne, just downstream from Colneford mill, was probably Percis or Perce mill which the priory owned in 1374. It was not recorded after 1417. (fn. 50)

Mill green, probably the later Mills farm on the Tey road near Chalkney wood, recorded in 1395, (fn. 51) may have been the site of a windmill. A field was called mill hill in 1421, and a windmill hill stood on the south side of Colne green in the 15th and 16th centuries. (fn. 52) Potter's windmill burnt down in 1659, was rebuilt before 1668, and was last recorded in 1672. (fn. 53)

TRADE AND INDUSTRY. In 1250 Henry III granted Earl Hugh de Vere a weekly Monday market at Earls Colne, and an annual fair on SS. Simon and Jude's day (28 October). (fn. 54) In 1264 the market was worth 15s., by 1350 20s.; Earls Colne's rise in comparative size and value in Lexden hundred between 1327 and 1377 (fn. 55) sug- gests that the foundation of a small market town had been at least partially successful. In 1378 the marketplace west of the church contained shops and both permanent and temporary stalls, but by 1395 six stalls had long been abandoned, and in 1430 the rents of 15 stalls were 'decayed'. (fn. 56) Apart from references to a stalls in 1468 and to Market hill in 1517, (fn. 57) there is no later record of the market. By 1599 the fair was held on 25 March. (fn. 58) It was a cattle and toy fair in 1756 and 1831; in the 1860s it was a pleasure fair, held in High Street for two or three days. (fn. 59) It was abolished in 1871. (fn. 60) The October fair seems to have moved to White Colne. (fn. 61)

Two wine-sellers broke the assize of wine in 1272. (fn. 62) From the early 15th century shop- keepers, including two or more butchers and fishmongers, were recorded regularly. (fn. 63) Six- teenth- and 17th-century tradesmen included grocers, a linendraper or mercer, a haberdasher, an ironmonger, and an apothecary. (fn. 64) In 1670 a shop stocked thread, needles, tapes, ribbons, laces, and thimbles. (fn. 65) Among the village crafts- men were tailors, shoemakers, cordwainers, pail- makers, tinkers, a 'bastrope maker', a rope- maker, and a dishturner. (fn. 66) In the later 18th century the village supported 5-7 chandlers or shopkeepers, 2 grocers, 2 butchers, and up to 4 bakers. (fn. 67) By 1851 there were 13 tailors and 11 shoemakers, as well as butchers, bakers, grocers, drapers, a stationer, and a wine and spirit mer- chant. William Tawell, linen- and woollen- draper, employed 10 men in 1851, 6 in 1861; J. S. Farrants, draper, outfitter, and grocer, employed 7 men and 4 boys in 1881. (fn. 68) There were 35 shops in 1974, (fn. 69) and c. 20 shops or small businesses in the village centre in 1998. Earls Colne co-operative society was founded in 1884, and in 1964 was the only surviving village co-operative in Essex or Suffolk. (fn. 70) It became part of the Colchester society in 1970, (fn. 71) and its shop was one of two grocery shops in the village in 1998.

A draper was assessed for subsidy in 1327, and a weaver occupied a cottage before 1417; a dyer's shop was recorded in 1378, and a tenter croft c. 1380. (fn. 72) Fifteenth-century villagers owned wool, broadcloth, and narrow cloth; others moved to the cloth towns of Colchester, Sud- bury, and Lavenham in 1409, 1413, and 1465. (fn. 73) Weavers and other clothworkers, including a clothier, were recorded frequently in the later 16th century and the earlier 17th. (fn. 74) /emph> In 1595 Earls Colne spinsters worked, not always honestly, for Colchester Dutch merchants; in 1622 spinners received wool from Halstead. In 1602 three parish overseers of woollen cloth production were appointed. (fn. 75) Woollen cloth was stolen in 1595, white cloth in 1598, broadcloth and fustian in 1600, and broad dark russet in 1604. (fn. 76) The industry seems to have declined in the later 17th century, although two saymakers and a clothier were recorded, and another clothier died in 1743. Colchester baymakers or weavers still employed Earls Colne spinners to card wool in 1701. (fn. 77) The overseers helped poor spinners in 1745, and from 1746 or earlier sold in Bocking woollen yarn spun in the workhouse. Workhouse spinning continued until 1805. (fn. 78)

Tanners were recorded from 1414 to 1639. In 1410 a leather-worker, and in 1417 a whittawer, worked illegally in the parish. (fn. 79) Two London skinners held Dynes cottage in 1462. (fn. 80) Other leather-workers included the glovers recorded between 1597 and 1626, (fn. 81) a collarmaker in 1600 and 1603, and a fellmonger in 1718. (fn. 82)

A croft in the north-west quarter of the parish paid a rent in tiles c. 1380. (fn. 83) The priory had a tilekiln by 1424, probably on the site of Tilekiln Farm, and in 1440 sold 14,500 tiles. In 1489 the earl's bailiff sent four loads of paving tiles to Castle Hedingham, perhaps from the kiln on the site of Nightingale Hall recorded in 1584 and 1634. (fn. 84) A Dutch brickmaker worked in the parish in 1440, and the three Dutchmen assessed for subsidy in 1523 were probably also brick- makers. (fn. 85) Kilns were recorded in 1593 and 1656, an abandoned kiln in 1684, and a brickfield in 1761. (fn. 86) Several bricklayers were recorded between 1576 and 1693; there was a brickmaker in the parish in 1738, and a bricklayer died in 1794. (fn. 87)

Robert Hunt established himself as a wheel- wright in Earls Colne c. 1825. (fn. 88) His business expanded in the late 1840s, and by 1853 he was selling an improved scythe and an award- winning clover-seed drawer over much of southern England. By 1856 his sons Thomas, Robert, and Reuben had established the Atlas Iron Works. (fn. 89) The firm grew rapidly in the later 19th century, under Reuben's direction, em- ploying 24 men in 1861, 75 in 1871, 147 in 1881, 290 in 1898, and c. 350 in 1912. (fn. 90) A machine shop was built in 1869, new offices in 1883, and a new foundry in 1890, and by 1900 the works covered c. 5 a. (fn. 91) Exports began in 1872, and by 1884 the firm had agents all over the world. From c. 1886 it built transmission power ap- pliances as well as agricultural food-produc- ing machinery. For much of the 20th century the works employed most of the able-bodied men in Earls Colne as well as many from sur- rounding towns and villages. The firm still employed 182 people when it was sold to Christy's of Chelmsford in 1983. It closed in 1988. (fn. 92)

Men named Zachariah Rogers worked as brickmakers, bricklayers, and builders from c. 1826, employing 6 men in 1851 and 25 men and 8 boys in 1871 at a yard on Colne green. (fn. 93) The firm owned a kiln and yard on the Tey road in 1910. The business contracted during the First World War and closed in the late 1920s. (fn. 94) Thomas Mann, a cooper, employed 8 men in 1871; by 1881 he was a timber merchant. (fn. 95) After his death in 1889 his sons T. and A. J. Mann continued the business, which specialized in oak for railway rolling stock and in willow for cricket bats. The firm closed c. 1983. (fn. 96) Courtaulds opened a silk factory behind Foundry Lane in 1882; in 1891 it employed a manager, clerk, and foreman and 42 or more women winders, weav- ers, and drawers. It closed c. 1953. (fn. 97)

C. A. Blackwell (Contracts) Ltd., Coggeshall Rd., started as a plant hire business in the late 1940s, and by 1993 was a major earth-moving contractor. (fn. 98) In the 1960s the former station yard was developed for light industry. Firms established there have included Day Impex Ltd., glassblowers, who moved from Southend in 1964 and employed 40-50 people to make egg timers, electronic components, thermometers, and vacuum flasks, (fn. 99) and Colne Valley mills (later Tuckfeed Ltd.), animal food producers, which moved from Langley mill (Greenstead Green, Halstead) in 1969 and extended its prem- ises in 1982. (fn. 100) Intertech Developments Ltd., makers of sports-and racing-car steering- wheels, moved to Earls Colne in 1967. (fn. 101)

In 1981 an industrial park opened on part of the former airfield. By 1988 firms on the 20-a. site included Milbank Floors, precast concrete manufacturers, Colvic Craft, makers of glass fibre boat hulls, Olympic Marine boat fitters, and Climate Changer, manufacturers of air- cooling and warming units. (fn. 102) By the early 1990s the park employed over 500 people in c. 13 firms, including Danby Medical and Advance Visual Optics Ltd. (fn. 103) In 1984 part of the airfield was re-opened as a flying school and private airfield. A golf course and leisure centre were added in 1990. (fn. 104)