The only way is Essex

Two starring country houses with ancient origins have recently been rescued and another has emerged unscathed from wartime action

- Penny Churchill

BACK in November 2015, the picturesque village of Earls Colne in the scenic Colne Valley, 3½ miles from Halstead and 10 miles from Colchester, was judged the best in Essex in a COUNTRY LIFE survey of commuter hotspots within easy access of the City of London. The same survey saw Grade II-listed Colne Priory, set in 24 acres of gardens and grounds on the banks of the River Colne, named Earls Colne's best address.

Now for sale through Strutt & Parker (020-7318 5025) and Knight Frank (020-7861 1114) at a guide price of $7 million, the imposing, red-brick country house was built in about 1825 in the Strawberry Hill Gothic style for Henry Holgate Carwardine. It was the last of a series of manor houses built on the site of a Benedictine priory founded by the de Vere family, Earls of Oxford, in the early 12th century, the remains of which lie buried under lawn in the grounds of Colne Priory and are designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Following the dissolution of the medieval Colne Priory in 1536, its land and buildings were granted to John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford, who demolished the priory church and built a manor house on the site. In 1583, the 17th Earl, Edward de Vere, a notorious spendthrift, sold the manor of Earls Colne to his steward, Roger Harlackenden, whose son, Richard, bought the adjoining manor of Colne Priory in 1592.

Colne Priory remained in the Harlakenden family until 1672, when it passed by marriage to the Androwes family and later, in the early 18th century, to one John Wale, who demolished what remained of the medieval buildings and remodelled the old de Vere house in about 1740, reputedly furnishing it with 'chimney pieces made from the ruinated tombs of the Oxfords'.