Welcome to the home page for the History of Marks Hall and its inhabitants. For other locations in Essex use the 'Essex A to Z' in the navigation menu. Search Essex parish registers on Ancestry. Help me find my ancestors - example search. Looking for pictures to add to your family tree album? Link below already formatted for Essex and Postcards. Essex Postcards on Ebay. His son, Thomas, was a Parliamentarian, who commanded militia during the Civil War, and local legend has it that the lakes in the valley were dug by Roundhead troops.
The house was extended in the late 17thc and remained in the same family until, in , William Philip Honywood died without issue. Endless lawsuits followed, leading ultimately to the sale of the estate, the house and its entire contents in The purchaser was Thomas Phillips Price, a former Liberal MP from Monmouthshire who had inherited a fortune at an early age, and needed a base nearer to London.
Marks Hall, with its romantic house surrounded by a mediaeval deer park fitted the bill perfectly. He was passionate about trees and woodlands and so from was in correspondence with Kew suggesting that Marks Hall might make a suitable new home for them, if pollution from smog, which was a major problem at the time, were to worsen.
Thomas Phillips Price with his third wife May under one of the great oaks. Thomas Phillips Price Trust. As with so many other great estates, the house and most of the land were requisitioned during the war and in work started on building nearby Earls Colne Airfield. Concrete roadways, additional military installations, hangars, workshops, a hospital and a chapel, were constructed on the estate along with dozens and dozens of Nissen huts.
After the war these were taken over by the local council to house people displaced by the conflict. However by , as a result of vandalism the mansion was said to be in a perilous condition. Questions were asked in parliament, since it was a Grade 1 listed building, but did not stop the contents being auctioned and the house torn down in For more information follow the link on the photo.
Mrs Price moved to the nearby Dower House during the war and never returned, and the rest of the estate was neglected. She finally moved to a nursing home in Bournemouth where she died aged 90 in But circumstances had changed and both Kew and the government viewed the gift with considerable misgivings. The house had gone, the grounds including the old walled garden had become over-grown with a jungle of weeds, self-sown trees and bushes. The lakes were choked with mud and overhung with trees, the roots of which had severely damaged the brick-lined banks and cascades.
The deer park with its fine collection of trees was gone and in the bulk of the land had been leased to the Forestry Commission for years for commercial forestry. Even the farms were run down. Luckily it was decided that the bequest could not be refused and eventually the Thomas Phillips Price Trust was established as a registered charity to administer and manage the estate. The Minister of Agriculture appointed the first trustees on the 15th November and the following year they decided to create an arboretum of national status within the garden and parkland areas, persuading the Forestry Commission to give up sufficient land from their year lease.
Slowly this resulted in the area around the mansion house site and the old walled garden being cleared and landscaped. The ornamental lakes were cleaned out and the brick lining of the banks and cascades reinstated.
Gin Fizz. In the distance in the right upper corner of the image, there appears to be tail sections of two B Marauders, which would have been on the hardstands just northeast of the Brick House Farm. Annotations have been added to identify the locations of Sites and Buildings.
All buildings noted with the exception of building in Site No. Earls Colne Airfield Dispersal Areas Aerial - War Time The photograph has been annotated with the dispersal sites within view and certain building numbers, all but one of which are within Site No. Please refer to the Earls Colne Site Plan - Schedule of Buildings for the legend, which is reproduced to the extent possible below..
Building is likely the Nissen hut shared by Lts. Showers Sergts. Mess Sergts. Quarters 2 Sergts. Quarters 3 Sergts. Ablutions Sergts. Quarters 5 Sergts. Barracks Sergts. Dining Room — Sergts.
Latrines Sergts. SITE No. Quarters Sergts. Like many such country house sites, the lost Jacobean Marks Hall mansion stood on a ancient site of habitation. The archaeology reveals a site stretching back to Saxon, Roman and bronze age times, with recovered remains that can open up a historical record of continuity to support the re-creation of the post-Elizabethan house and estate. The Jacobean mansion was demolished in , and an archaeological dig is currently taking place to uncover not only the footprint of the mansion, but also its predecessor manor house.
This new wave of research into the house is being headed by the Department of History of the University of Essex, in conjunction with the Colchester Archaeological Group and the School of Computer Sciences and Electronic Engineering at the University of Essex. The mansion stood at the heart of the Marks Hall Estate.
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