White Colne, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex

Parish History
White Colne St Andrew (formerly All Saints) is an Ancient Parish in Essex.

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, formerly ALL SAINTS, comprises chancel, aisleless nave with south porch and south vestry, and west tower. The late 11th-century church seems to have consisted only of the nave, which has Roman brick quoins, and the chancel. It was remodelled in the 14th-century when a west tower and spire were added, and windows and the chancel arch replaced. A south porch was recorded in 1622. The chancel was out of repair in 1584 and 1589, but neither the vicar nor the farmer of the rectory would accept responsibility for it. The nave also needed repair in 1607, and in 1707 the church was very dilapidated. By c. 1730 the spire and top of the tower had fallen down. The church was thoroughly repaired c. 1760. A vestry had been made under the tower by 1840, and a small gallery was erected in 1846. Between 1866 and 1872 the church was so thoroughly restored, to plans by C. J. Moxon, that little of the original work remained. The tower appears to have been almost entirely rebuilt; in the nave and chancel plaster ceilings were removed, walls were repaired, all the window tracery was replaced, and the south porch was completely rebuilt. A vestry, added on the south side of the chancel, had to be rebuilt in 1890. Traces of the 15th-century wall paintings of stars and fleursdelis discovered in 1869 remained in 1922 but had disappeared by 1949. Three modern niches in the east wall of the nave, behind the pulpit, may replace a reredos for a medieval nave altar; a single, Perpendicular, niche survives to the south of the chancel arch. In the chancel are a 14th-century piscina and aumbry. The 17th-century pulpit is a composite piece, incorporating probably Continental carvings of St. James the Great, St. Augustine of Hippo, and the Virgin and Child; it was in the church before 1866 and may have been introduced at the c. 1760 restoration. The font was apparently replaced c. 1760 and again in 1870. The 3 bells in the church c. 1548 were later 'exchanged' with those of Earls Colne. By c. 1730 there was only one bell. A treble was added in 1878 and the earlier bell was recast in 1880. The treble was stolen in 1971. The plate includes a silver cup of 1563 with a slightly later paten cover, another paten of 1789 given by M. R. Hills of Colne Park, Colne Engaine, and a silver salver of 1746. The churchyard was extended in 1891 and 1966; the lych gate was erected in 1923 in memory of Harris and Mary Hills of Berwick Hall.

From: 'White Colne: Church', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10: Lexden Hundred (Part) including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe (2001), pp. 136-138. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15205&amp;amp;strquery=white colne Date accessed: 17 February 2011.

White Colne is a village and civil parish in the Braintree District of Essex County Council for local government purposes. It is on the north side of the River Colne, opposite Earls Colne, and on the Colchester road, 4 miles East South East of Halstead. It traces its history back to the Domesday book and beyond.

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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Census records
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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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