NONCONFORMITY.
Colne Engaine was 'a
Quakers' nest' in 1655, and in 1657 a Meeting
moved there from Earls Colne. (fn. 56) George
Barnard, Christ's Hospital's tenant in the early
18th century, was a Quaker, and a house in the
parish was licensed as a Quaker meeting house
in 1709. (fn. 57) Despite conversions to the Church of
England in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, (fn. 58) there were still 11 Quakers in the parish
in 1766, but none was reported thereafter. The
Society still owned 2 a. of land near Buntings
green, given by William Bunting of Halstead for
poor Quakers, in 1840. (fn. 59)
A Primitive Methodist chapel was registered
in 1871 and deregistered in 1896. (fn. 60)
Earls Colne Baptist church established a mission hall or chapel in Brook Street in 1881. It
apparently never attracted large congregations
and closed in 1946; the building was used as a
public hall, the World Union Hall, until its sale
in 1966. (fn. 61)
Footnotes
| 56 |
Diary of Ralph Josselin, ed. A. Macfarlane, 348, 403. |
| 57 |
Guildhall MS. 13775; E.R.O., Q/SBb 44/50. |
| 58 |
E.R.O., D/P 193/1/1. |
| 59 |
Lamb. Pal. Libr., Terrick papers 15; Morant, Essex,
ii. 220; E.R.O., T/A 434/5/13; ibid. D/CT 102A. |
| 60 |
O.N.S. (Birkdale), Worship Reg. no. 20091. |
| 61 |
Earls Colne Baptist Ch., Ch. Meeting mins. 1895-1919,
1920-48; ibid. folder on sale of Colne Engaine mission hall. |