Coggeshall
Coggeshall | ||
---|---|---|
Shire county | ||
Region | ||
Country | England | |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom | |
Post town | COLCHESTER | |
Postcode district | CO6 | |
Dialling code | 01376 | |
Police | Essex | |
Fire | Essex | |
Ambulance | East of England | |
UK Parliament | ||
Coggeshall (
Etymology
There has been a long history of debate about the meaning of the name Coggeshall. Different pronunciations and spellings have been used throughout its history and many theories as to the name's origin have arisen. The name appears as Kockeshale around the year 1060. while the first element may be an Old English personal name (Cocc or Cogg).[3] Margaret Gelling associated the name Coggeshall with the landscape in which it is situated, believing that -hall comes from Anglo-Saxon healh, meaning a nook or hollow, thus rendering the name as "Cogg's nook" (with Cogg as a proper name), corresponding to Coggeshall's sunken position in the 150-foot contour line.[4]
The Domesday Book from 1086 addresses the village as Cogheshala and it is mentioned elsewhere as Cogshall, Coxal, Coggashæl'' and Gogshall. Coggeshall has also been called Sunnydon, referenced in 1224 as an alias for the village.[5]
Beaumont brought together several theories for the name in his 1890 book A History of Coggeshall, in Essex.
- Weever 1631 wrote about a monument found on "Coccillway", thought that Coccill was a Lord of the area in Roman days and a corruption of the name led to Coggeshall.
- the largely discredited antiquarian Alfred John Dunkin thought that it was a concatenation of two Celtic words – Cor or Cau with Gafæl, enclosure hold; or Cœd and Cær or Gær, camp in a wood, "Cogger", the person owning this camp may have had a hall, therefore Coggershall.
- Philip Morant opined that the name was a corruption of Cocks-hall, with the seal of the Abbey featuring three cockerels. This may also be supported by Beaumont's suggestion that the first parish church, like the current one, was dedicated to Saint Peter, and the cockerel was used as a sign of this dedication.
- Beaumont also reasons that the name may have come from the red-coloured shrub the Coccus, whose colour is pronounced Coch; many Ancient Britons had names related to colours.
History
Coggeshall dates back at least to an early Saxon settlement, though the area has been settled since the Mesolithic period.[6] There is evidence of a Roman villa or settlement before then and the town lies on Stane Street, which may have been built on a much earlier track. The drainage aqueducts of Stane Street are still visible in the cellar of the Chapel Inn today. Roman coins dating from 31 BC to AD 395 have been found in the area and Coggeshall has been considered the site of a Roman station mentioned in the Itineraries of Antoninus.[7] Coggeshall is situated at a ford of the River Blackwater, part of another path running from the Blackwater Valley to the Colne Valley. Where these paths crossed a settlement started.
Coggeshall is mentioned as Cogheshala in the Domesday Book of 1086, when it had "a mill; about 60 men with ploughs and horses, oxen and sheep; woodland with swine and a swineherd, four stocks of bees and one priest". William the Conqueror gave the manor of Coggeshall to Eustace, the Count of Boulogne.[6]
The modern history of Coggeshall begins around 1140 when
Flint and rubble were the main materials used in the construction of the monastery, and the buildings were faced with stone punted up the Blackwater, and locally produced brick. Brick making had died out in Britain since the Romans left and the monks may have been instrumental in its re-establishment around this time. They built a kiln in the north of the town at a place called Tile Kiln, an area now known as Tilkey. The bricks from Coggeshall are some of the earliest-known bricks in post-Roman Britain. Long Bridge, in the south of the village, was probably built in the 13th century using these bricks and the kiln in Tilkey continued to produce bricks until 1845.[8] The Church was sufficiently complete to be dedicated by the Bishop of London in 1167.[6][8]
The estate commanded by the monastery was extensive. The monks farmed sheep, and their skilled
The
Economy and industry
After the decline of the wool trade, Coggeshall's economy centred around cloth, silk and velvet, with over half of the population employed in its production. The cloth trade is first linked with the town in 1557 as a well-established industry but the onslaught of various trade laws brought about the decline of the trade. The last book order entry for cloth production is listed as 14 November 1800.[14]
The 1851 census showed Coggeshall to be one of the most industrialised places in Essex. However, the English silk industry was being artificially supported by a ban on imported silk goods; Continental silk was cheaper and of a higher quality. When Parliament repealed the ban in 1826 and later reduced and finally removed duties on French silk, English weavers were unable to compete and Coggeshall's economy was devastated.[15]
The town again found fame in
Coggeshall was noted for the quality of its brewing, in the late 19th century having four well-established institutions. In 1888 Gardner and Son were awarded the Diploma of Honour at the National Brewer's Exhibition.[16] The brewery buildings have undergone alternative use in recent years, with several now used a residential buildings and another used as the Coggeshall Village Hall.[17] In 2008 the Red Fox Brewery was opened near Coggeshall.[18]
By the end of the 19th century
In the mid-19th century John Kemp King established seed growing in the area where it continues to this day.[15][19] The seed growing industry is said to have originally started with the Cistercian monk's at the abbey[20]
Nonconformist chapels
The first independent place of worship in Coggeshall was a converted barn on East Street, put to use in 1672. In 1710 a permanent chapel was built on Stoneham Street for "Protestant Dissenters from the Church of England, commonly called Independents". By 1716 there were 700 hearers including some of the wealthiest and most influential people from the local area. In 1834 the chapel was enlarged and again in 1865. Today the building continues to be part of the United Reformed Church in continuous succession from its Congregational and Independent past. The modern Christ Church which meets in the building is now a Local Ecumenical Partnership (LEP); a new single congregation coming together from a union of the three chapels in 1989 and uniting members from the Baptist Union, the Methodist Church, and the United Reformed Church.[21]
The Quakers were active in Coggeshall as early as 1655, with Fox stating "I came to Cogshall, and there was a meeting of about 2,000 people." That same year James Parnell, a Quaker, caused a disturbance at the church and was sentenced to prison at Colchester Castle where he died whilst imprisoned in 1656. A meeting house was purchased on Stoneham Street in 1673 with a new building constructed in 1878. A graveyard was purchased on Tilkey Road in 1856 but now forms part of a private garden attached to Quaker Cottage. The meeting house is now home to Coggeshall Library.[22]
Coggeshall has proved an important place in the local
The
Post reformation Catholics
The Catholic parish established in Kelvedon provided for the small Coggeshall catholic community in the Victorian period. In 1914 eleven Catholics were recorded as living in Coggeshall village. A permanent oratory was established at White Barn in 1919, with a Mass held at Starling Leeze, the residence of Captain and Mrs Dixon, from 1922. In 1923 a Mass was held at the Hitcham School every third Sunday using a portable altar, with the closure of this venue the Assembly Room above the Co-operative store was used. In 1927 the congregation had grown to thirty. Captain Kenneth Dixon R.N. died in 1927 and a site for a permanent place of worship was bought in his memory on Stoneham Street, for £200. The chapel of ease, St Bernard's of Clairvaux, was opened on Sunday 19 February 1928 with Bishop Doubleday blessing the building. By the 1930s there were seventy people in weekly attendance and by the 1960s the original building was considered to be too small for worship.[25]
Geography
Coggeshall is situated on top of a large deposit of London Clay. The main river is the Blackwater with the local Robin's Brook feeding into it. Beaumont mentions that there are good bore holes.[26] The current course of the river was dug by the monks, with the original course running to the north. There is a small stream called the 'backditch' that follows the original route of the river.
Demography
1861[27] | 1881[27] | 1901 | 1921 | 1941 | 1961 | 1981 | 2001[1] | 2011 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Population | 4198 | 3361 | 3919 | 4727 | |||||
Number of houses | 765 | 2039 |
Landmarks
St Nicholas' Chapel, Coggeshall Abbey's gatehouse chapel, survived the
The
To celebrate the Millennium two new bells were purchased, bringing the total to ten. Coggeshall hosts the fifth heaviest peal in Essex,[30] the heaviest four being (in descending order) Waltham Abbey, Chelmsford, Writtle and West Ham.[31]
The Paycocke family moved into Coggeshall in the 15th century and exemplified a trend for successful butchers to acquire large flocks of their own sheep which would produce wool as well as meat. The wool could be used to make cloth and often the 'grazing butchers' would eventually evolve into
The Coggeshall clock tower was built to celebrate
Nunn's Bridge, a wrought iron footbridge on a Public Right of Way crossing the River Blackwater was listed by Historic England in 2020. Erected in 1892, it is unique in its design, and was made and installed by local blacksmith and social campaigner Henry 'Dick' Nunn after the previous wooden bridge was washed away and authorities refused to replace it. Nunn was an early campaigner for human and animal welfare, and advocate of rights of way in the countryside.[37][38]
Transport
Bus
- 1881–? – Moore's Bus – 3 times a day to Kelvedon station[39]
- from 1982 – Coggeshall Community Bus (COG1) – Weekday (Monday-Friday) peak hours service from the town to Kelvedon station. It is currently served by a Mercedes-Benz mini-bus. A single fare cost £2, less than the parking cost at the station.[40]
- 1963–2008 – the First Essex number 70 bus service between Chelmsford and Colchester (via Braintree) stopped in the town every hour.
- 2008–2016 – the First Essex number 70 bus service between Chelmsford and Colchester (via Braintree) stops in the twon every 20 minutes Monday–Friday and every 30 minutes Saturday. Regal Buses provide the last number 70 bus service on Monday–Saturday evenings. The Sunday number 70 bus service is run by the TGM Group and stops in the town every 2 hours. There is also a limited service running from Wakes Colne to Sudbury and Bury St Edmunds via Coggeshall; this X16 service is run by H C Chambers once a day, Monday–Friday only.
- from 2016 – the First Essex number 70 bus service between Chelmsford and Colchester (via Braintree) stops in the town every 30 minutes Monday–Saturday and every two hours on Sunday.
- from 2022 – the First Essex number 70 was renumbered 370. The 370 bus service between Chelmsford and Colchester (via Braintree) stops in the town every 30 minutes Monday–Saturday and every two hours on Sunday.
Road
Coggeshall lies on the ancient
Culture
Coggeshall jobs
The saying "A Coggeshall job" was used in Essex from the 17th to the 19th century to mean any poor or pointless piece of work, after the reputed stupidity of its villagers. There were numerous stories of the inhabitants' ridiculous endeavours, such as chaining up a wheelbarrow in a shed after it had been bitten by a rabid dog, for fear it would go mad. John Ray's 1670 Collection of English Proverbs gives the following rhyme:
Braintree for the pure,
Bocking for the poor;
Coggeshall for the jeering town,
And Kelvedon for the whore.
The phrase is said to have originated one day when Coggeshall's town clock chimed 11 times at noon. When the villagers heard that the town clock at
Local tales
- Thomas Hawkes burned to death in 1555 during the Book of Martyrs.
- Mary Honywood[43] of nearby Mark's Hall, in an age of religious uncertainty, dashed a wineglass to the floor declaring "I shall be damned as surely as this is smashed". The wineglass rebounded, unbroken and she lived to the age of 93 years, having 19 children. She is commemorated in the church for having a total of 365 descendants at the time of her death.[42]
- One of the latest recorded witch-hunts in England took place in Coggeshall. It is known from the diary of Joseph Bufton, a resident of the town, that in 1699 the widow Common was tried three times for witchcraft, each time by 'swimming' – binding her limbs and putting her in the river to see if she would sink. She was found guilty on each occasion but died, probably from influenza, before she could be hanged. Another account is found in the records of the Reverend James Boys, the Vicar of Coggeshall.[44]
- During the Napoleonic Wars Coggeshall was required to raise a company of men for the defence of the country. This they did, although the Coggeshall Volunteers famously consisted of 20 officers and only 3 privates.[42] One resident of the town, the schoolmaster Thomas Harris, was so amused by the situation he was inspired to write a short, satirical play entitled "The C*******ll Volunteer Corps". In the play he lampooned the surfeit of officers ("As the Corps at present consists mostly of officers no more will be admitted; but should any neighbouring Corps be in want of a few it may be accommodated at the rate of one officer for one private, and in every dozen so exchanged an officer will be thrown in extra. God save the King."), the quality of the troops and the courage of their commanders (in the event that the nearby town of Colchester was invaded the corps would move to defend Braintree, and if Braintree were to be attacked they would defend Colchester, etc.) The play was so popular it reached four editions. Unfortunately, despite Harris' insistence that it was not so, many of the town's citizens believed that they were being personally caricatured and, taking offence, withdrew their children from his school.
- Mr Nunn, a former blacksmith, is well known for his local deeds. Knowing the Grange Hill to be too steep for horses with heavy loads, he proceeded with others to lower the top and was removed by the police. His most famous deed is the construction of an iron bridge that spans the Blackwater.[42]
- Robin's Brook is said to be haunted by the ghost of a woodcutter named Robin.[41]
Media
Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC East and ITV Anglia. Television signals are received from the Sudbury TV transmitter.[45]
Local radio stations are BBC Essex on 103.5 FM, Heart East on 96.1 FM, Greatest Hits Radio East (formerly Dream 100 FM) on 100.2 FM, Actual Radio an DAB station and Leisure FM, a community based radio station that broadcast on 107.4 FM. [46]
The town is served by these local newspapers, Braintree and Witham Times,[47] Essex County Standard and East Anglian Daily Times.
Sport
The local football club, Coggeshall Town, currently play in the Essex & Suffolk Border League and were previously members of the Essex Senior League. They are one of the oldest clubs in existence having been founded in 1878.
Notable people
- John Jegon – born in Coggeshall in 1550, Bishop of Norwich 1602.[42]
- John Rogers – born in Coggeshall 11 January 1630. Emigrated in 1636 and became President of Harvard University.
- John Owen – Vicar of Coggeshall (1646–51), theologian, chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford.[48]
- Richard Mant – Vicar of Coggeshall (1810–20), later Bishop of Down and Connor, wrote a history of the Church of Ireland.[42][49]
- Henry Doubleday (1810–1902), scientist and horticulturist.[50]
- John Carter (1815–50), silk weaver who became a celebrated mouth artist after an accident paralysed him from the neck down.[51]
- William Unwin (1838-1933) - engineer[52]
- Muriel Rose, art collector, curator and writer, lived in Coggeshall in the 1970s.[53]
- David Nightingale Hicks(1929–1998) - interior decorator and designer, noted for using bold colours, mixing antique and modern furnishings.
- Tony Newton (1937–2012) – Baron Newton of Braintree, Conservative politician and peer.
- Luke Wright – poet (b. 1982) grew up in Coggeshall.
Ralph of Coggeshall
The sixth abbot of Coggeshall's abbey (from 1207 to 1218), Lord Ralph was one of the most important chroniclers of his time, described by the historian E. L. Cutts as "a man of polished erudition, as well as of temperance and arrived at such a degree of excellence in literature as to be esteemed by far the first of the brethren of his convent." He is known particularly for his work in the Chronicon Anglicanum ('Chronicle of English Affairs'). It is from that work that much of the early history of Coggeshall is known. Due to ill health he ceded his title to the seventh abbot, Lord Benedict de Straford in 1218, living quietly in the Abbey until his death in 1228.[6]
Coggeshall Gang
In the 1840s a gang of criminals terrorised Coggeshall and the neighbouring villages. Their headquarters were at the Black Horse Inn on Stoneham Street and their success was due to the unpaid and untrained, spare-time parish constables' inability to deal effectively with crime in their local area. The gang committed burglaries and violent robberies across Coggeshall,
The magistrates convened at the Chapel Inn in Coggeshall and sent a posse of the new county police to the Black horse Inn. Some of the gang were caught there and then, but the gang's leader made a daring escape across the rooftops, eventually being arrested trying to board a ship to France. Twenty men were brought to trial at the Shire Hall in Chelmsford, evidence being provided by 700 witnesses. Such was the interest in the gang that the galleries of the courtroom were filled with fashionably dressed women. One of the members was sentenced to hang, commuted to transportation for life, and others were transported to Australia for terms varying from life to seven years.
The captain of the gang soon died in Preston Gaol, while three others did well for themselves in Australia. One eventually farmed a large area of Western Australia and retired to Coggeshall a very wealthy man. Another had farms in Queensland and became a pillar of his local community, while a third ran a successful bakery in Tasmania and mingled with the best of local society. .[15][56]
Cultural references
The village was featured in the BBC TV series Lovejoy.
Education
The Cistercians maintained a library at the Abbey.[8] Scholarly works were produced such as Ralph of Coggeshall's Chronicon Anglicanum and John Godard's Concerning the threefold method of calculating[57] alongside the ecclesiastical. There was also a school at the Abbey before 1464, in contravention of Cistercian rule.[8]
Sir Robert Hitcham's School was founded in 1636 as part of the will of Sir
A national school was started in 1838–39 when the old workhouse on Stoneham Street was given to the vicar and churchwardens.[59]
The British school was built on land adjoining the Independent Chapel (current-day Christ Church) in 1841 for education of the poor.[60]
In the late 20th century St Peter's School Church of England Primary School was opened in the land opposite St. Peter ad Vincula Church. It was rebuilt in the 1980s.[citation needed]
In 2008 a
Coggeshall has one comprehensive secondary school called Honywood Community Science School.
Citations
- ^ a b Key Statistics for urban areas in the South East Archived 24 July 2004 at the UK Government Web Archive. 2001 Census, National Statistics. Retrieved on 11 February 2007.
- ^ a b "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
- ISBN 9780191739446.
- ^ Margaret Gelling: Obituary, The Economist, 16 May 2009.
- ^ Beaumont pp. 11–13
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Rose, Beatrice M. (2003) [c. 1950s]. A Brief History of Coggeshall Abbey. Coggeshall: Coggeshall Museum
- ^ Beaumont p. 10–11
- ^ ISBN 0-9518543-4-8.
- Alfred Lord Tennysonso Rose's claimed origin of this phrase is questionable
- ^ Beaumont p. 91
- ^ Beaumont p. 231 – Greatorex writes Sewale and Beaumont writes Sewall
- ^ Beaumont p93
- ^ Beaumont pp. 107–08
- ^ Beaumont pp. 183–191
- ^ a b c d e Workers Education Authority [1951] (2000). The History of Coggeshall 1700–1914. Coggeshall: Coggeshall Museum
- ^ a b Beaumont p. 196
- ^ "Coggeshall Parish Council Village Hall". Archived from the original on 8 March 2010. Retrieved 12 August 2010. note the use of the word village; Coggeshall residents often refer to the village as a town. The Village Hall was originally called St. Peter's Hall.
- ^ http://www.redfoxbrewery.co.uk/about.htm Archived 11 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine Technically closer to Little Tey, the address is Coggeshall and the brewery has brewed a beer called Coggeshall Gold
- ^ Beaumont p. 196; it is also remarked that JK King had his own brewery that has not survived.
- ^ Warren, C.H. p54
- ^ Beaufont p. 136–43
- ^ Beaufont pp. 14–48
- ^ Beaufont p. 148-49
- ^ Beaufont p. 149
- ^ St Mary Immaculate and the Holy Archangels, Canon Francis Dobson, 1975
- ^ Beaumont p. near the start
- ^ a b Beaumont p2
- ^ Beaumont p. 103
- ^ (2006) A Guide to Essex Churches. Chelmsford: Essex Tourism, p. 4.
- ^ A brief History of St Peters Archived 8 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine. St. Peter-ad-Vincula official website. Retrieved on 28 December 2006
- ^ Unfortunately, the church brochure incorrectly lays claim to the heaviest ring. Dove's online directory of church bells is the definitive authority on this subject. https://dove.cccbr.org.uk/
- ^ Wallace, Carew [1974] (1979). Paycocke's. London: The National Trust.
- ^ Paycocke's Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, The National Trust Website, Retrieved on 10 February 2007.
- ^ Coggeshall Grange Barn. Coggeshall Grange Barn independent website. Retrieved on 10 February 2007.
- ^ Coggeshall Grange Barn Archived 5 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine, The National Trust website. Retrieved on 10 February 2007.
- ^ Heritage in Our Hands Archived 12 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine, Friends of Coggeshall Grange Barn website. Retrieved on 21 March 2007.
- ^ Historic England. "Nunn's Bridge, Coggeshall, Coggeshall (1471715)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
- ^ "Captivating Sites Across England Listed During 2020 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
- ^ Beaumont p. 3
- ^ Coggeshall Bus Home Page. Coggeshall Community Bus Official Website. Retrieved on 24 November 2007
- ^ ISBN 9780340165973.
- ^ a b c d e f Auston, E (1943). Coggeshall in History and Legend – The story of a small eastern England town written especially for Americans. Illustrations by Henry Sayer: E. Auston, Friday House, Coggeshall
- ^ This is sometimes spelt Honeywood, however the correct spelling is the one used in this article and the one used by the Secondary School in the town named after the family
- ^ Rev. James Boys (1699)[revised 1974]. A Case of Witchcraft at Coggeshall, Essex. Coggeshall: Workers Educational Association
- ^ "Sudbury (Suffolk, England) Full Freeview transmitter". UK Free TV. 1 May 2004. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
- ^ "Leisure FM". Retrieved 28 December 2023.
- ^ "Braintree and Witham Times". British Papers. 20 September 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
- ^ Beaumont pp. 61–62
- ^ Beaumont p. 65
- required.)
- required.)
- required.)
- ^ Vacher, Jean (2006). Muriel Rose: A Modern Crafts Legacy. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
- ^ Baines, Frank (2011). Chindit Affair. Pen and Sword.
- ^ Mooney, Brian (2011). Frank Baines a life beyond the sea. Thorogood.
- ^ Wade, Barry The Coggeshall Gang Feedaread.com 2016
- ^ Beaumont p217
- ^ Beaumont pp. 150–59
- ^ Beaumont p181
- ^ Beaumont p182
General and cited references
- Beaumont, George Frederick (1890). A History of Coggeshall, in Essex. ISBN 0-9539165-0-2.
- Coggeshall Official Guide. Coggesall: Coggeshall Parish Council. 1977. p. 26.
- Rose, Beatrice M. (2003) [c.a. 1950s]. A Brief History of Coggeshall Abbey. Coggeshall: Coggeshall Museum.
- Workers Education Authority (2000) [1951]. The History of Coggeshall 1700–1914. Coggeshall: Coggeshall Museum.
- ISBN 1-58734-094-1.
- Greatorex, Jane (1999). Coggeshall Abbey and Abbey Mill (Manors, Mills & Manuscripts). Jane Greatorex, Castle Hedingham, Essex. ISBN 0-9518543-4-8.
- a guide to essex churches. Chelmsford: Essex Tourism. 2006. p. 4.
- "Cistercian Abbeys: Coggeshall". Cistercians in Yorkshire. Retrieved 8 January 2006.
- "Coggeshall Museum and Heritage Centre". Archived from the original on 5 December 2004. Retrieved 14 April 2005.
- "Coggeshall 2003". Archived from the original on 4 April 2005. Retrieved 14 April 2005.
- "A brief History of St Peters". St. Peter-ad-Vincula official website. Archived from the original on 8 September 2006. Retrieved 28 December 2006.
- "Medieval bricks meant business for Essex Man". British Archaeology. Retrieved 1 May 2006.
- "Unlocking Essex's Past". Essex County Council. Archived from the original on 25 September 2006. Retrieved 14 April 2005.