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THE PEOPLE'S

HISTORY OF ESSEX,

COMPRISING

A NARRATIVE OF PUBLIC AND POLITICAL EVENTS IN THE

COUNTY,

FROM THE EARLIEST AGES TO THE PRESENT TIME;

THE HUNDREDS AND BOROUGHS;

WITH

DESCRIPTIVE SKETCHES OF THEIR ANTIQUITIES AND RUINS,

HL

SEATS OF THE NOBILITY AND GENTRY,

AND AN

EPITOME OF THE PAROCHIAL CHARITIES.

BY D. W. COLLER.

CHELMSFORD:

PUBLISHED BY MEGGY AND CHALK, HIGH-STREET.

MDOCCLI

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PREFACE.

THE purpose of the PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF ESSEX, we hope, will speak for itself. The chief object has been, as we stated at the outset, to present "a popular and historical picture of the county from the earliest ages to the present day,-its political and social changes,-the wars and struggles of which it has been the scene, the races by which it has been overrun,-the great families who have owned or still own its soil,-its castles, antiquities, remarkable churches, charities, and government."

The History of the County had been a sealed book to the many. This seal, which bore the impression of two or three sovereigns-the price of the bulky tomes upon the subjectit has been the endeavour to break; and the sale of the work, as it has appeared in monthly numbers, assures us that we have been to a great extent successful. We flatter ourselves that we have opened a new mine of information for thousands-at least some thousands, we know, have already explored it-and have been able to give readable interest to facts and events which naturally appear dry and uninviting. The aim has been to impart a popular tone, wherever the matter would admit of it, to the pages of the PEOPLE'S HISTORY, giving just enough of any general public and political occurrences to explain the motives and illustrate the movements of the local actors; and thus convey to the Essex reader an idea of the interesting and hoary memories that cling to the soil on which he lives, and the part which his county has taken in the events, the triumphs, and struggles of the past. In pursuance of this object, we have traced the old. paths and trodden over much new ground. Nearly every ruin and relic of importance in the county has been visited. The old halls have been explored. The modern homes of the

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