Colne Engaine, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex



Parish History
Colne Engaine St Andrew is an Ancient Parish in the county of Essex. Other places in the parish include: Colne Park.

The diocese of Chelmsford was created in 1914, prior to this Essex parishes were in the jurisdiction of the Bishops of London until 1845 when they transferred to the diocese of Rochester. The diocese of Chelmsford has 474 parishes and 600 churches and is the second largest region in the church of England outside London.

The church of ST. ANDREW comprises chancel, nave with south porch, and west tower. The 12th-century church presumably comprised nave, of which the rubble and Roman brick walls with a blocked window and doorway survive, and chancel. The chancel was rebuilt in the 13th century, with lancet windows, one of which survives, blocked, in the north wall. In the 14th century the lower stages of the west tower were built, and the nave and chancel remodelled with new windows, and a crownpost roof in the nave. A timberframed south porch was added in the 15th century. The upper stages of the tower were being built in brick in 1496, and shortly afterwards the south porch was largely rebuilt in brick. Thereafter the church seems to have been well maintained, only minor repairs being ordered in 1684 and 1707. The church was restored in 1873 under the direction of Edward Swansborough. The floor of the east end was raised by two steps, the east wall underpinned and buttressed, and a vestry built on the north side of the chancel. The chancel arch was rebuilt, ceilings in both have and chancel were removed, almost all the window tracery was replaced, and two new windows were made in the north wall of the nave. A gallery, built by 1837, was removed, and the tower arch opened up. All the furnishings were replaced. The tower was restored in 1928. On the south pier of the chancel arch is a brass to Alice Hunt, widow, presumably of Thomas Hunt (fl. 1525). Five bells were recorded from 1684. Two were by Miles Gray (d. 1649) and two by Miles Gray (d. 1686); the fifth was replaced in 1760. A sixth bell was given by J. J. D. Botterell in 1906. The small silver chalice recorded in 1684 had presumably been lost by 1781 when the church acquired another one. In 1789 M. R. Hills gave a silver chalice and paten and two flagons, and in 1902 J. J. D. Botterell a silvergilt chalice and paten. The churchyard, c. 1 a. in 1810 and 1887, wasextended in 1935 with land given by Miss.K.M.Courtauld. The lich gate at its west end was erected in 1897 to commemorate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee.

From: 'Colne Engaine: Church', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10: Lexden Hundred (Part) including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe (2001), pp. 114-116. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15190&amp;amp;strquery=colne engaine Date accessed: 16 February 2011.

Colne Engaine is a village and a civil parish in the Braintree district of Essex, situated just north of the River Colne and of the larger village of Earls Colne. The village takes its name from the river, around which it is likely that the earliest settlements were made, and the Engaine family, who were the principal family of the village between 1279 to 1367. Previously the village had been known as Little Colne, and is one of four villages named after the river (the others being Earls Colne, Wakes Colne and White Colne). The parish contains the hamlet of Countess Cross.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
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Online images are available Seax - Essex Archives Online From the Essex Record Office

Census records
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Index for the Census may be searched at FamilySearch Historical Records

http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Poor Law Unions
Halstead Poor Law Union, Essex

In the earlier 18th century weekly allowances were paid to up to 18 paupers; occasional relief in kind, usually clothes or shoes, was also given. The numbers receiving regular relief rose to 26 in 1769 and to 31 in 1798; clothes and shoes continued to be bought, and a surgeon or apothecary was paid in the 1760s and 1770s. In 1761, 1762, and 1766 spinning wheels was bought for pauper women. The same system continued into the 19th century, and in addition some men were paid for work on the roads. A workhouse, whose inmates were employed in spinning and hop-picking, operated between c. 1750 and 1761 and again from c. 1777 to c. 1790 or perhaps to 1795 when the overseers settled affairs there. At other times the building seems to have been used as pauper housing. It was sold in 1839. The three unendowed almshouses reported in 1768 were probably also used for pauper housing. That on Buntings green may have been the house built there by the parish in the late 16th century for 'a most wicked and ungodly man'. The houses were presumbly those sold by the parish in 1836. Expenditure on the poor more than doubled between 1776 and 1783-5, rising from £125 to an average of £266 a year, an increase comparable to that at Earls Colne and one of the largest in the hundred. By 1803 expenditure had risen to £422, and by 1813 to £607 or £1 4s. 2d. per head of population, one of the lower rates in the hundred. It fell to £427 in 1816 before rising to £734 in 1818. Expenditure per head remained slightly below average for the hundred until 1830 when total expenditure rose to £900, £1 9s. 2d. a head. Although expenditure fell to £601 in 1834, expenditure per head remained above average for the hundred. Eighteenth-century and early 19th-century vestry meetings were attended by the parish officers, the rector or curate, and 6-7 parishioners. Although in 1821 there was reported to be no select vestry, there seems to have been a distinction in the mid 18th century between the annual 'town' meeting and others. In the 1830s meetings were sometimes adjourned from the church to the Five Bells. In 1839 the vestry agreed to pay to vaccinate poor families; in 1845 money raised for poor relief paid for a soup kitchen.

From: 'Colne Engaine: Local government', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10: Lexden Hundred (Part) including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe (2001), pp. 113-114. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15189&amp;amp;strquery=colne engaine Date accessed: 16 February 2011.

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Essex Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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