The Monks of Earl's Colne

The priory of Earl's Colne was founded in 1111 or before by Aubrey and Beatrice de Vere.

It is thought that the wall paintings in Belchamp Walter were painted as a commission from the priory.

The provinance of the paintings, who actually painted them, who commissioned them, and why needs to be investigated. By the 14th century the priory was well established and the patronage was more likely to have been by the de Beauchamp family rather than the de Vere family. The manor of Belchamp Walter was given to Geoffrey de Mandeville on his marriage to Rohse de Vere prior to 1144. Roshe re-married in Geoffrey's death to Payne de Beauchamp, a baron of Bedford, so the manor was in the de Beauchamp hands before the paintings were applied to the walls.

The heraldry that still remains on the chantry arch shows the de Beauchamp coat of arms as well as the de Botetourt and Fitz Otho arms which are predominant. It is difficult to determine the relative significance of the heraldry as the Reformation damage to the carving is extensive on the lower sections of the arch. If the chantry was built towards the end of the 14th century it is also likley that the wall paintings were also defaced at that time. In any case such was the sentiment regarding of what could have been seen as superstitious daubing may well have been quite low.

The similarity of the Madonna and Child at Belchamp Walter and at Great Canfield reinforces the de Vere connection if they were painted by the same artists.

If the paintings had the same inspiration as those seen in the de Lisle Psalter there is also a conneection between the de Beauchamps and the de Lisles

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What the Wikipeida page says about the Priory:

Colne Priory at Earls Colne, Essex was a Benedictine priory, initially a dependent cell of Abingdon Abbey, Berkshire (now in Oxfordshire). It was founded by Aubrey de Vere I and his wife Beatrice in or before 1111. One piece of research suggests that the original Abbot, Faritius, was appointed in 1101; he initially placed six monks at the site.
Their eldest son Geoffrey had died at Abingdon about seven or eight years earlier and was buried there. On his deathbed, Geoffrey had bequeathed to Abingdon the church and lands at Kensington, Middlesex, and his parents and brothers had confirmed that grant, as had King Henry I.

The monks

In the early 14th century it is likely that the monks of the Priory were responsible for painting the wall paintings at St. Mary's Belchamp Walter and at St. Mary's Great Cranfield. The monks and the Abbot, Faritius, did not "own" the priory but possibly supplied priests and artists to Churches related to the de Vere empire at the time.

Beatrice de Vere

Beatrice de Vere was co-founder of Colne Priory around 1111.

Source: Dugdale Monasticon IV, Colne Priory, Essex, II, p. 99.

An extract from the information sheet that was in the Church of St. Mary's Belchamp Walter:

" Sir John de Botetourt having been buried in 1324. Prior to that date he occupied the Manor as underlord of the de Veres - Earls of Oxford, at Hedingham Castle, and Priory of Earls Colne, to whom the Church at that time belonged. "

There are a couple of issues I have with this. Firsty, Botetourt was NOT an "underlord" for the de Vere's and did not live in Belchamp Walter or Castle Hedingham in 1324 (or years prior to that date. Secondly, the crown "owned" pretty much everything including the priory and associated Churches such as Belchamp Walter and Great Canfield.

In addition, there is a Motte and Bailey castje adjacent to the Church at Great Canfield and this was constructed for 2nd or 2rd Earl of Oxford (de Vere) .

Colne Priory

The house as it is today 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 Harlakenden, 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’.

The possible artists of the Medieval Wall paintings at Belchamp Walter

The Monks of Earl's Colne

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