Colne Engaine is a village and a civil parish in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, England, situated just north of the River Colne and of the larger village of Earls Colne, approximately ten miles northwest of Colchester. 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 and 1367.

History

Variations in spelling may be Colne Gagn and Colne Geyne, as seen in 1418. Previously the village had been known as Little Colne, and is recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086 as Parva Colun with 38 inhabitants, returning ' Man-at-arms from Walter the Deacon; Walter from Robert Malet. 2 mills, 3 beehives. 13 goats'.Open Domesday Online: Colne (Engaine)
accessed January 2019. It 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. Evidence of Roman settlements have been found by the Church, and also at Knight's Farm, to the west of the village. The

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

's manor of Colne Engaine was purchased by John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford in 1508, in order to augment his adjacent Earls Colne manor.

The Village Pub

The Five Bells is the only

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

in Colne Engaine. The building is over 500 years old and a record of landlords since 1579 is displayed in the bar area. In 1689 the landlord was recorded as running a 'disorderly house'. Another public house, the ''Three Cups'' was recorded in 1766.

St Andrew Church

This church is situated towards the centre of the village. The nave was built in the Norman period with the lower part of the current tower added in the fourteenth century. It has a red brick tower. It was restored in 1872-3 under the direction of the architect E. Swansborough. Restoration of the church tower was funded by Katherine Courtauld, a local farmer and landowner. The church is adorned with several twentieth-century stained glass windows, including ones by Arthur Erridge, Alan Younger, and Reginald Bell. The windows include one from 1935 by Reginald Bell showing a sower and a reaping angel in memory of Katherine Courtauld, installed as a memorial by her life-long partner Mary Gladstone.

Courtauld Memorial Hall

This is the village hall. Run by a local charity, it provides facilities for the community to meet for social, educational, and fitness activities. Its construction around 1920 was funded by Katherine Courtauld in memory of her father, George Courtauld.

Colne Engaine Football Club

Colne Engaine FC, nicknamed 'The Engines', was founded in 1921. In 2003, the club folded due to a lack of interest, however, with the help of the parish council and former club members, the club was reformed in 2005; repairing the changing rooms and moving to the local community pitch, Burches Meadow.

Colne Engaine Primary School

There is a Voluntary aided primary school.

Notable former residents

* Isaac Baker Brown, a controversial 19th-century gynaecologist and

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

, was born in the village. The white-brick facade of Knight's Farm, still extant today, is his work. * Katherine Courtauld (1856 - 1935), a member of the Courtauld family, farmed at Knight's Farm from 1877 until her death in 1935, and was a major landowner in the area. * Steve Lamacq, a

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

DJ and '' Fighting Talk'' pundit was raised in Colne Engaine; his parents still live in the village.Steve Lamacq returns to the BBC
2010

References

External links

The Colne Engaine Village Shop Website

The Five Bells Website

Colne Engaine Parish Council/Village Website
{{authority control Villages in Essex Braintree District