Coggeshall
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Template:GBdot Coggeshall is a small town of about 5000 residents in Essex, England. Situated between Colchester and Braintree, this old market town is known for its almost 300 listed buildings and extensive antique trade. Many local businesses, such as the White Hart Hotel and the Chapel Inn have been established for hundreds of years. The town was featured in the BBC series Lovejoy. A thriving market has been run every week on Market Hill since 1256, when a charter to do so was granted by Henry III.
History
Dating back at least to an early Saxon settlement, Coggeshall is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Cogheshal. There may have been a Roman settlement before then and the area around Coggeshall has been settled since the Mesolithic period. The modern history of Coggeshall begins around 1140 when King Stephen and his queen Matilda, founded a large Cistercian abbey there. The monks farmed sheep, forming a foundation for the town's prosperous wool trade during the 15th to mid-18th centuries. The town became particularly renowned for its fine Coggeshall White cloth. After the collapse of the wool trade Coggeshall's economy in the first half of the 19th century centred around silk and velvet with over half of the population employed in its production. The town again found fame in Tambour Lace, a form of lacemaking introduced to the town by a Monsieur Drago and his daughters. Later, the Free Trade Act was passed, allowing duty-free imports into the country, flooding the market with cheaper French silk and devastating the local economy.
Local Tales
- Thomas Hawkes was burned to death in 1555 rather than allow his son to be baptised into the Roman Catholic Church.
- Mary Honywood is commemorated in the church for having a total of 365 descendants at the time of her death.
- Coggeshall is supposedly located at a crossing of ley lines.
- 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.
- Coggeshall is one of the many sites claimed to be the burial place of Boudicca.
- In 1699 the widow Comon was tried three times for witchcraft, each time by binding her limbs and putting her in the river to see if she would sink. She was found guilty on each occasion but fell ill and died before she could be hung.
External links
- Coggeshall Parish Council (http://www.coggeshall-pc.gov.uk/)de:Coggeshall