St Andrews Church photographed on an October afternoon in 2005.
A reputed image of Rev Ralph Josselin
As with many other parishes in Essex, Earls Colne has connections to our
extended Joslin family.
Ralph Josselin (1616-1683) is one of our more illustrious
ancestors, he became Vicar at Earls Colne
and is now remembered as a famous 17th century diarist (some say his diary is
comparable to Pepys)
The diary of The Revered Ralph Josselin covers the last 42 years of the Vicars
life and give a insight
into the social, political, weather, farming, kinships etc in the period
1641-1683, even his attempts to
remove his rotten teeth are recorded in detail.
Ralph was married to Jane Constable in 1640 and they had at least ten children
but not many survived
to adulthood, if you can relate to Ralph and Jane we would love to hear from
you.
Fortunately for us, the diary of Ralph Josselin has been
transcribed from his original small hand writing,
Dr. Alan Macfarlane a Cambridge historian
and lecturer has undertaken the work.
more on the work of Alan Macfarlane and a link to Earls Colne at the website;
www.alanmacfarlane.com
The diary was published to two forms, a small paperback that
is
'The Family Life of Ralph Josselin'
ISBN 0-393-00849-5
This book is about 240 pages and was priced at UK£7:75
the book will be sufficient to wet your appetite
A kinship chart of Ralph's immediate line is printed, this shows connections
to the
PEACOCK, SEARLE, CONSTABLE, SHEPHERD, HUDSON, FINCH, WOODTHORPE,
BENTALL, SPICER, WORRELL, JOHNSON, SUMNERS, TURNAGE, and BATTLE Families
The complete works
'The Diary of RALPH JOSSELIN'
ISBN 0-19-726103-5
This is a very substantial work of 727 pages and is priced at UK£35:00
The book is an almost day by day account of English life over 40 years.
Sixteen kinship charts are printed in this edition, apart from the families
mentioned above we are given family
charts of the following families HARLAKENDEN, COOKE, ELDRED, HAINES, HONYWOOD,
MILDMAY,
LITTLE, ABBOTT, CRESSENER, HARRINGTON, BURTON, ELLISTON, CHURCH, GARRAD & NEVILL
I wish I could say that I had read every word and retained the knowledge.,
alas if only...
I got my copies from
www.amazon.co.uk who delivered free of charge
(very good service)
Websites giving you more details on the Village are;
http://colnevalley.com/earlscolne.htm
The BBC also have a history site for Earls Colne by Alan
Macfarlane
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/your_history/colne_01.shtml
Earlier this year I received news
from my good friend Ray Joslin of Woodford Green,
Ray, being an 'old boy' of Earls Colne Grammar School, had been to the village
for a school reunion
and learnt of the setting up of an 'Earls Colne Heritage Museum'.
While my wife Margaret and I were in Essex for the 2005 AGM in the
bunker,
we met up with Ben and Mary Joscelyne to reconnoitre the Church & Museum
and find an eating place.
The Heritage Museum is in the old water tower of what was the Atlas foundry,
just off the Halstead Road
and provides a lot of old photographs and stories of the past history of Earls
Colne (well worth the visit)
We were treated to an excellent computerised graphic & audio presentation.
The map below will help you locate the museum
Their new website is
www.echm.org.uk
Unfortunately St Andrew's Church was locked and we were
unable to see inside the Church (sad times)
We had better luck at 'The Lion' public house on the High street,
Janine the proprietor, made us feel welcomed and would be pleased to provide
us with a room
and meals for a JOSSELIN meeting in 2006, so Earls Colne can expect the
Josselin's!!
The map above shows the places in Earls Colne connected with our visit
The Lion website is
www.thelionpub.com
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28 members of the Josselin Society
visited Earls Colne
on Saturday September 23rd 2006
details at
www.josselin.org.uk
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Note from Elizabeth Slack: Earls Colne and Ralph Josselin
Interesting to see your web site and information. I just wondered
whether you knew, or whether the guide who takes you round St
Andrews Church Earls Colne will show you the church door which faces
up towards the village street, not the main door. There are two
heads carved at each side of the door. One is old and is the head
of a king. The other (on the right side of the door as you stand
outside looking at it) is modern and is supposed to represent Rev
Ralph Josselin. As you will see, if you can open the attachment, it
was replaced by my father, Donald Mann, in memory of my
mother, Winifred, who died in 1984, and was carved by a young
stonemason, but I don't know his name. I think the original head
was damaged. My father's family were T&A J Mann who owned and ran
the sawmill which was opposite the Atlas Works in Foundry Lane. My
father was born in Sunnyside, in the main street, opposite the
entrance to Foundry Lane in 1898, his Aunts ran a school at Priory
House opposite Sunnyside, my father's Uncle Tom and their son &
daughter, Frank and Ella Mann, lived in the Willows, which is the
house just beyond Priory schoolhouse in Foundry Lane, called the
Willows.
The Timber Yard, now built on, was next to the Willows. My parents
moved to live in the Willows in the 1970s. With all good wishes and
thank you for your very interesting web site.
Yours sincerely, Elizabeth (Bunny) Slack nee Mann. elizabeth.slack@btinternet.com |
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