Coggeshall

This article is about the town in England. For other uses, see Coggeshall (disambiguation).
Coggeshall

St. Peter-ad-Vincula church, Coggeshall
Coggeshall
 Coggeshall shown within Essex
Population 3,919 [1]
OS grid referenceTL853226
DistrictBraintree
Shire countyEssex
RegionEast
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town COLCHESTER
Postcode district CO6
Dialling code 01376
Police Essex
Fire Essex
Ambulance East of England
EU Parliament East of England
UK ParliamentWitham
List of places
UK
England
Essex

Coordinates: 51°52′18″N 0°41′29″E / 51.8717°N 0.6913°E / 51.8717; 0.6913

Coggeshall (/ˈkɔːksəl/ or /ˈkɔːɡᵻʃəl/) is a small market town of 3,919 residents (in 2001) in Essex, England, between Colchester and Braintree on the Roman road of Stane Street, and intersected by the River Blackwater. It is known for its almost 300 listed buildings and formerly extensive antique trade. Many local businesses, such as the White Hart Hotel and the Chapel Inn, have been established for hundreds of years (the Chapel Inn became a legally licensed premises in 1554). A market has been run every week on Market Hill since 1256, when a charter to do so was granted by Henry III.

Coggeshall won the Essex Best Kept Village award in its category in 1998 and 2001–03; it was named the Eastern England & Home Counties Village of the Year in 2003.[2] Official brown coloured sightseeing/tourist road signs on the entry to the town from the A120 road still show Coggeshall as "Village of the Year".

Etymology

The meaning of the name Coggeshall is much debated. Different pronunciations and spellings have been used throughout its history and many theories as to the name's origin have arisen. The earliest mention of the name is in a grant from around 1040 where it is called Coggashael. The Domesday Book from 1086 addresses the town as Cogheshal and it is mentioned elsewhere as Cogshall, Coxal and Gogshall. Beaumont brought together several theories in his 1890 book A History of Coggeshall, in Essex.

  1. 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.
  2. Dunkin thought that it was a concatenation of two Celtic words – Cor or Cau with Gafael, enclosure hold; or Coed and Caer or Gaer, camp in a wood, "Cogger", the person owning this camp may have had a hall, therefore Coggershall. Beaumont largely rejects this.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

Post-Beaumont, Margaret Gelling associated the name with the landscape in which the town 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.[3] There are several towns throughout Britain with similar names: Uggeshall, Cockfield, Cogshull, Cogges, Coxhall Knoll. Part of the Parish was known as Crowland; the Parish of Crowland in Lincolnshire has an area within it called Gogguslands.

Coggeshall has been called Sunnydon, referenced in 1224 as an alias for the town.[4]

History

Coggeshall dates back at least to an early Saxon settlement, though the area has been settled since the Mesolithic period.[5] 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.[6] 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.

The town's sign depicts a Cistercian farming sheep at the abbey. On the other side is a weaver by his loom.

Coggeshall is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Cogheshal. The Manor of Coggeshall was owned by a Saxon freeman named Cogga, and at the time of its entry there was "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 to Eustace, the Count of Boulogne.[5]

The modern history of Coggeshall begins around 1140 when King Stephen and his queen Matilda, founded a large Savigniac abbey with 12 monks from Savigny in France,[7] the last to be established before the order was absorbed by the Cistercians in 1147. Matilda visited the Abbey for the last time in 1151 and asked for the Abbot's blessing, "If thou should never see my face again, pray for my Soul. More things are wrought by prayer than this World dreams of."[5][8]

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 town, was probably built in the 13th century using these bricks and the kiln in Tilkey continued to produce bricks until 1845.[7] The Church was sufficiently complete to be dedicated by the Bishop of London in 1167.[5][7]

The estate commanded by the monastery was extensive. The monks farmed sheep, and their skilled husbandry developed a high-quality wool that formed the foundation of the town's prosperous cloth trade during the 15th to mid-18th centuries, when it was particularly renowned for its fine Coggeshall White cloth. The monastery also had fishponds with strict fishing rights — a Vicar of Coggeshall was imprisoned in Colchester for stealing fish.[5] However, the monastery could not produce all that it required and sold produce at an annual fair to buy the things they did not have. In 1250 the Abbot of Coggeshall was allowed by Royal Charter to hold an eight-day fair commencing on 31 July — the feast of St. Peter-ad-Vincula, to whom the Parish Church was dedicated. In 1256, a Saturday market was granted as long as it didn't interfere with its neighbours. Colchester complained in 1318 that Coggeshall was a hindrance, and their complaint, being upheld, resulted in the market being moved to Thursday, where it remains to this day.[5][7][9]

The Black Death hit the Abbey hard, with the number of monks and conversi much reduced. Revenues across Essex fell to between one third to one half of pre-plague rates; the abbey suffered financially with tenanted and cultivated lands heavily decreased.[7] During the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 the Abbey was broken into and pillaged. The sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire, John Sewall, was targeted by rioters at his Coggeshall house, now the Chapel Inn.[7][10] By the early 15th century a new church was begun at the Abbey called St. Mary's; it was completed by the start of the 16th century but the Dissolution of the Monasteries brought an end to the prosperity of monks. In 153] Abbot Love was demoted with a list of complaints raised against him; though some of them may have been fabricated, it appears that standards at the monastery were dropping.[7] It was common practice at the time that Abbots unsympathetic to the will of the King were replaced with more favourable ones; in this case Abbot More was implanted by Dr. T. Leigh. Coggeshall survived the Act of Suppression in 1536 and the Abbot of St. Mary Grace's, London, invested in its future.[7] However, the political situation was opposed to the monasteries and Coggeshall succumbed in 1538, handed over by Abbot More.[11] The monks were sent back to their families or into the community, many becoming priests. Abbot Love became vicar of Witham where he stayed until his death in 1559.[7] The monastery's possessions and lands, totalling nearly 50,000 acres (200 km²), were seized; King Henry VIII granted them to Sir Thomas Seymour.[5][12] They remained into his possession until 1541 when they were split up.[7]

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.[13]

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.[14]

The town again found fame in Tambour lace, a form of lace-making introduced to Coggeshall around 1812 by a Monsieur Drago and his daughters. The production of this lace continued through the 19th century before dying out after the Second World War. Examples of Coggeshall lace have been worn by Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth II.[14]

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.[15] 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.[16] In 2008 the Red Fox Brewery was opened near Coggeshall.[17]

By the end of the 19th century gelatine and isinglass production was well established at a site on West Street,[14] production continued until ceasing in the late 1980s.[15]

In the mid-19th century John Kemp King established seed growing in the area where it continues to this day.[14][18]

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 village chapels in 1989 and uniting members from the Baptist Union, the Methodist Church, and the United Reformed Church.[19]

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 local 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.[20]

Coggeshall has proved an important place in the local Baptist Ministry. For many years congregations met in a house just off Hare Bridge, and in 1797 the first annual meeting of the Essex Baptist Association was held in the Independent Meeting House. A permanent meeting house was constructed in 1825 along Church Street. This building is now used as business offices.[21]

The Methodists have been present in Coggeshall since 1811, worshipping first at a house on Stoneham Street, then a chapel on East Street. A permanent chapel was constructed in 1883 on Stoneham Street to seat 250 people and now hosts a local children's nursery.[22]

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.[23] 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[24] 1881[24] 1901 1921 1941 1961 1981 2001[1]
Population 4198 3361 3919
Number of houses 765

Landmarks

St. Nicholas' Chapel, Coggeshall Abbey's gatehouse chapel, survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries intact, albeit converted into a barn. Subsequently restored in 1863,[25] it is the oldest surviving post-Roman brick building in the country (c. 1220). The original bricks from the ruins of the abbey are older still, and were made by the monks themselves. These were previously believed to be the oldest post-Roman bricks in the country; however, newer evidence suggests that brick making was not reintroduced to Britain by the Cistercians, but that there was already a brick making industry around Coggeshall in the early 12th century, prompted by the exhaustion of the supply of recyclable Roman bricks.[5]

The Church of St. Peter-ad-Vincula (St. Peter in chains) is built on an earlier Norman church. It is one of the largest churches in Essex (internal dimensions of 134 ft 6 in by 62 ft 9 in, the tower reaches a height of 72 ft) and was considered as a possible choice for cathedral, with Chelmsford Cathedral eventually being chosen.[26] The present church was built in the perpendicular style with 'wool money' during the first quarter of the 15th century; its unusual size is testament to the affluence of the town at the time. Restoration work was carried out during the 19th century. During the Second World War, on 16 September 1940, the Luftwaffe bombed the church causing the roof of the nave to collapse and significant structural damage; repairs were completed in 1956. To celebrate the Millennium two new bells were purchased, bringing the total to ten. Coggeshall hosts the heaviest peal in Essex.[27]

Paycocke's House

Paycocke's is a house built in or around 1500 by John Paycocke (d. 1505); it is thought it was built as a wedding present for his son Thomas and daughter-in-law Margaret as the initials T.P. and M.P. appear in the wood carvings that decorate the house. The house features elaborate wood panelling and carvings, a testament to the wealth generated by the wool trade in East Anglia. It also features gates which some think were taken from the Abbey at the time of its dissolution. 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 clothiers. These merchants frequently became very wealthy during this process. Thomas was the last Paycocke to live in Coggeshall, dying in 1580. It was the sold to the Buxton family who were clothiers and from 1746 changed hands several times eventually being bought by Lord Noel-Buxton, a descendant of the original Buxtons, and given to The National Trust in 1924. Restoration work was carried out in the 1960s and the house is now open to the public.[28][29]

Grange Barn

Grange Barn was built by the Cistercians in the 13th century to serve the abbey. It is one of the oldest surviving timber-framed buildings in Europe. It was located a quarter of a mile from the Abbey and underwent significant structural alteration in the 14th century. It survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries, remaining in continual agricultural use up until 1960 when it was left derelict. It was compulsorily purchased in 1982 by Braintree District Council, who initiated the restoration of the barn, with the work being completed in 1985. In 1989 the barn was given to The National Trust for its future preservation. Although it has undergone extensive reconstruction and its original thatch roof has been replaced with tile, the barn today represents that which existed in the 14th century. Grange Barn is now open to the public showing a collection of farm carts and wagons, and is available to hire for special events.[30][31][32]

The town clock was built to celebrate Queen Victoria's jubilee in 1887 and the clockhouse was at one point a school for the poor children of the town and currently houses an award-winning tearoom.

Transport

Bus

There is also a community bus route, COG1, that is the only bus that serves the nearest station, Kelvedon. The bus provides a commuter bus service Monday - Friday only. It is currently served by a Mercedes Benz mini-bus. A single fare cost £1, less than the parking cost at the station.

Road

Coggeshall lies on the ancient route of Stane Street. It is now serviced by the A120 road which follows the original road. Around 1982 a bypass was built around Coggeshall.

Culture

Coggeshall jobs

See also: Wise Men of Gotham

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 Lexden had struck 12 times at 11 o'clock, they rode to the town to collect the missing stroke.[35] Other jobs included winching up a cow onto the church roof to eat the grass growing there, knocking down one of two windmills as there would not be enough wind for both of them, attempting to divert the course of the river with hurdles, hanging sheets over roads to prevent the wind from blowing disease into the town, chopping the head off a lamb to free it from a gate, removing stairs from a house to stop flood water entering and some appropriated from other 'fool centres', for example the classic 'fishing for the moon'.[36]

Local tales

Thomas Hawkes on Market Hill, he is saying "O Lord receive my Spirit"

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

Ralph of Coggeshall

Main article: Ralph of Coggeshall

The sixth abbot of Coggeshall's abbey (from 1207–18), 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.[5]

Coggeshall Gang

In the 1840s a gang of criminals terrorised Coggeshall. Their headquarters were 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, Great Tey, Cressing and Bradwell. Their crimes were often brutal and mainly directed at the elderly. Dell's hole in nearby Earls Colne is named after Mr Dell who was attacked by the gang. Such was the interest in the gang that when they were finally caught and brought to trial, the galleries of the courtroom were filled with fashionably dressed women. One of the members was hanged, and several others were transported.[14]

Cultural references

The town was featured in the BBC series Lovejoy.

Education

The Cistercians maintained a library at the Abbey.[7] Scholarly works were produced such as Ralph of Coggeshall's Chronicon Anglicanum and John Godard's Concerning the threefold method of calculating[43] alongside the ecclesiastical. There was also a school at the Abbey before 1464, in contravention of Cistercian rule.[7]

Sir Robert Hitcham's School was founded in 1636 as part of the will of Sir Robert Hitcham, a Member of Parliament and Attorney General. The school was to educate 20 or 30 of the poorest children of the town and to give them funding for apprenticeships. The school functioned until the mid-20th century, being rebuilt in 1858 on land opposite Paycockes.[44]

A national school was started in 1838–39 when the old workhouse on Stoneham Street was given to the vicar and churchwardens.[45]

The British school was built on land adjoining the Independent Chapel (current-day Christ Church) in 1841 for education of the poor.[46]

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.

In 2008 a Montessori School was founded in the rooms above Christ Church.

Coggeshall has one comprehensive secondary school called Honywood Community Science School.

The Coggeshall Museum was founded in the 1990s.

Notes

  1. 1 2 Key Statistics for urban areas in the South East. 2001 Census, National Statistics. Retrieved on 11 February 2007.
  2. ↑ Calor Village of the Year Regional Winners, (2003), Calor, Accessed 30-12-2006
  3. ↑ Margaret Gelling: Obituary, The Economist, 16 May 2009.
  4. ↑ Beaumont pp. 11–13
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rose, Beatrice M. [c.a. 1950s] (2003). A Brief History of Coggeshall Abbey. Coggeshall: Coggeshall Museum
  6. ↑ Beaumont p. 10–11
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Greatorex, Jane (1999). Coggeshall Abbey and Abbey Mill (Manors, Mills & Manuscripts). Jane Greatorex, Castle Hedingham, Essex. ISBN 0-9518543-4-8.
  8. ↑ this is also attributed elsewhere to Alfred Lord Tennyson so Rose's claimed origin of this phrase is questionable
  9. ↑ Beaumont p. 91
  10. ↑ Beaumont p. 231 – Greatorex writes Sewale and Beaumont writes Sewall
  11. ↑ Beaumont p93
  12. ↑ Beaumont pp. 107-08
  13. ↑ Beaumont pp. 183–191
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 Workers Education Authority [1951] (2000). The History of Coggeshall 1700–1914. Coggeshall: Coggeshall Museum
  15. 1 2 Beaumont p. 196
  16. ↑ http://www.coggeshall-pc.gov.uk/villhall.html note the use of the word village; Coggeshall residents often refer to the town as a village. The Village Hall was originally called St. Peter's Hall.
  17. ↑ http://www.redfoxbrewery.co.uk/about.htm Technically closer to Little Tey, the address is Coggeshall and the brewery has brewed a beer called Coggeshall Gold
  18. ↑ Beaumont p. 196; it is also remarked that JK King had his own brewery that has not survived.
  19. ↑ Beaufont p. 136–43
  20. ↑ Beaufont pp. 14–48
  21. ↑ Beaufont p. 148-49
  22. ↑ Beaufont p. 149
  23. ↑ Beaumont p. near the start
  24. 1 2 Beaumont p2
  25. ↑ Beaumont p. 103
  26. ↑ (2006) A Guide to Essex Churches. Chelmsford: Essex Tourism, p. 4.
  27. ↑ A brief History of St Peters. St. Peter-ad-Vincula official website. Retrieved on 28 December 2006
  28. ↑ Wallace, Carew [1974] (1979). Paycocke's. London: The National Trust.
  29. ↑ Paycocke's, The National Trust Website, Retrieved on 10 February 2007.
  30. ↑ Coggeshall Grange Barn. Coggeshall Grange Barn independent website. Retrieved on 10 February 2007.
  31. ↑ Coggeshall Grange Barn, The National Trust website. Retrieved on 10 February 2007.
  32. ↑ Heritage in Our Hands, Friends of Coggeshall Grange Barn website. Retrieved on 21 March 2007.
  33. ↑ Beaumont p. 3
  34. ↑ Coggeshall Bus Home Page. Coggeshall Community Bus Official Website. Retrieved on 24 November 2007
  35. 1 2 Ash, Russell (1973). Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain. Reader's Digest Association Limited. p. 234. ISBN 9780340165973.
  36. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 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
  37. ↑ 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
  38. ↑ Rev. James Boys (1699)[revised 1974]. A Case of Witchcraft at Coggeshall, Essex. Coggeshall: Workers Educational Association
  39. ↑ Beaumont p. 217
  40. ↑ Beaumont pp. 61–62
  41. ↑ Beaumont p. 65
  42. ↑ Beaumont p68
  43. ↑ Beaumont p217
  44. ↑ Beaumont pp. 150–59
  45. ↑ Beaumont p181
  46. ↑ Beaumont p182

References

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