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Ferriers – a Bures house and its connection to the Mayflower.

WITCHES, WAMPUMS AND A VERY SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP. 

Exactly 400 years after the voyage of The Mayflower and the Pilgrim Fathers’ founding of the New World, the role played by early settlers from Bures and Ferriers Manor, in particular, has been the subject of much academic and literary interest.

From the Great Migration to Plymouth Colony’s First Lady, the Salem Witch Trials and even the spoils of ‘King Philip’s War’, all have been linked directly to Ferriers and its C17th owners, the Waldegrave and Pelham families.

Two books charting the roles of these families in founding New England have recently been published: Rebecca Fraser’s ‘The Mayflower Generation’ and Michelle Marchetti Coughlin’s ‘Penelope Pelham Winslow: Plymouth Colony First Lady’. Meanwhile, a documentary funded by the British Arts Council seeks to solve the enduring mystery of the missing Wampum Belts of the highly influential Wampanoag Chief Metacomet, known to the settlers as King Philip. 

Such were the significance of these royal symbols that Plymouth Colony Governor Josiah Winslow decided to present them to King Charles II as a ‘trophy’ of the wars against the indigenous Americans and their safe delivery was entrusted to his brother-in-law Waldegrave Pelham. The belts, however, never made it to Charles II with the last known location being Ferriers… 

Early History of Ferriers

Edward II (1284-1327) sat on the throne when the earliest reference was made to property at Ferriers. It was then held by the Earl of Derby, John de Ferrers, who gave the estate its name. Ferriers subsequently passed through John’s daughter to the Lords of Attleburgh, later held by the Cresseners of Hawkendon from 1411-1546 before being acquired by Anthony Waldegrave, the second son of Sir William Waldegrave of nearby Smallbridge Hall. The present Ferriers House, which sits just a few metres from the earlier manorial barn, dates from Anthony’s time with both properties passing via his son Thomas to Jemima Waldegrave, who married Herbert Pelham in 1626.

As part of a thriving and affluent Bures community in the 1630s, Ferriers was part of a much larger and grander estate owned by the Waldegraves, comprising the exquisite (and still-standing) fifteenth-century Great Bevills and Smallbridge Hall, as well as Ravensfield Farm, Peyton Hall, and Bures Mill.1

Ferriers by John Nash, 1964.

The manorial court on the Ferriers property was used by the lord to settle civil cases with his tenants. It has been described by distinguished local historian Leigh Alston as, “undoubtedly the finest and most complete example yet found.” Alston has compared it to Widdington Priory near Saffron Walden, noting that at 45 feet long and 20 wide, the court hall produces “a remarkable impression of space.” Lit by diamond mullion windows with sliding wooden shutters, it includes a separate chamber and private staircase for the lord at one end and an external staircase for the tenants opposite.

The Great Migration

This grand setting at Ferriers was where Herbert Pelham, ‘a formidable and wily figure’, 2 first proposed his plans to travel with his wife, Jemima, four young children and entire household to the New World. He called an open meeting at which, as the wealthy lord of the manor, he offered to pay the passage of any Bures residents who wanted to join him on the voyage; and in August 1638 this varied collection ‘of good quality and estate’,3 together with indentured servants, livestock,  provisions and their ‘beautiful and elaborate household objects’,4 landed at Salem, Massachusetts as part of the Great Migration of 1620–1640, before settling in Cambridge MA. Jemima Waldegrave Pelham appears to have died before or on the voyage.

Penelope Winslow (nee Pelham) born at Ferriers and baptised at Bures Church in 1633

In truth, this was less of a voyage into the unknown for Herbert Pelham than for most of the Bures contingent. He was already a significant landowner in Massachusetts, having been one of the early investors, known as the ‘Merchant Adventurers’, in Massachusetts Bay Colony – to quote the excellent Rebecca Fraser, ‘he was now putting his money where his mouth was and…going to take up residence on his land in New England’. As an ardent supporter of Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentary Party and a strong upholder of Puritan teachings, he was naturally inclined to the philosophy of the early settlers. Several were friends and relatives – perhaps most notably his kinsman, Mayflower passenger and Plymouth governor Edward Winslow. A regular visitor to Ferriers in the 1640s, Edward and fellow Mayflower passenger William Bradford were considered the two most important first settlers, as they were the authors who created the ‘Pilgrim narrative’. 5 Herbert’s brother William, one of the first planters at Sudbury, was also established in New England – as was his sister, Penelope, who married one of the most famous Governors of Massachusetts, Governor Richard Bellingham.6 Herbert was also related to many important colonising families, such as the De La Warrs.

The Pelham Coat of Arms

These powerful family ties were further enhanced when Herbert’s daughter, Penelope, married Edward Winslow’s son Josiah, who himself would become governor of Plymouth Colony. With her gentry background (her third-great grandmother was Anne Boleyn’s sister, Mary7) and position as Plymouth’s ‘First Lady,’ Penelope was one of the colony’s most influential women as well as an extraordinary individual in her own right.8

The Salem Witch Trials

Given Herbert’s financial advantages, family connections, and undoubted intellect, it is no surprise that he was soon established as a leading settler of Massachusetts. He was even appointed to the highly prestigious position of Harvard College’s first treasurer. Owning four homes and around 1,000 acres of land, he was among Cambridge MA’s wealthiest inhabitants, ‘perhaps even the most wealthy’.9 The 400 acre ‘Pelham Island’ in Cambridge, MA, still bears his name.

Less fortunate were some of Herbert’s fellow travellers from Bures. The village, and the Essex-Suffolk borders more generally, were at the time renowned for ‘witchcraft’ largely due to the activities of the self-appointed ‘Witchfinder General’ Matthew Hopkins, who lived in nearby Manningtree. The arrival of a group of immigrants from Bures apparently stoked an existing fear of the supernatural, ultimately feeding into the mass hysteria which led to one of early Massachusetts’s most notorious episodes, the infamous and brutal ‘Salem Witch Trials’ of 1692 and 1693.

Salem Witch Trials 1692-1693

In 1932 an American psychiatrist Percy R. Vessie published a paper about New England witches in which he linked the Bures settlers directly with the introduction of Huntingdon’s disease to the United States; according to this theory the symptoms endured by the Bures families, involuntary jerks and ticks brought on by the disorder, were the reason they were labelled as ‘possessed by the devil’. This now disputed thesis10 gained sufficient credence for it to form the basis of the 1988 novel, The House of Stairs by local author, Barbara Vine – a.k.a Ruth Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh.

Brooks Corwin, was stepmother to one of the most persistent judges, Jonathan Corwin, whose house in Salem still stands, operating as a museum called the ‘Witch House’. Penelope Pelham Winslow had a further intriguing link to the Salem Witch Trials – her sister-in-law, Elizabeth Winslow.

The Apotropaic ‘Sooty Graffiti’ on original 17C plaster Eave at Ferriers

Whatever the truth, a direct link between Bures and the ‘Salem Witch Trials’ is well-established and indeed visually represented in some seventeenth-century markings on the plaster of an attic eave at Ferriers. These rare surviving apotropaic symbols, used to ward off witchcraft, were burnt with soot from a candle onto the plaster and comprise a series of letters and numbers. Easiest to decipher is the ‘VV’ signifying the ‘Virgin of Virgins,’ Mary. In a curious coincidence, apotropaic markings are also found at the house built by Penelope Pelham Winslow’s son, where she spent her final years.

The Wampum Belts

Despite being an illustrious and successful figure amongst the early settlers, matters of estate at Ferriers brought him back to England in 1646, along with his children (with the exception of Penelope) and his second wife, Elizabeth Bossevile Harlakenden, widow of Roger Harlakenden of Colne Priory, Earls Colne.

After resettling at Ferriers, Herbert took on a slew of important civic roles, including representing Essex in Cromwell’s Puritan Parliament. Upon his death in 1674, the house passed to his eldest son, Waldegrave. In 1677, Waldegrave was entrusted by his brother-in-law, Governor Josiah Winslow, with the prestigious task of delivering to King Charles II ‘the highly symbolic war trophies of King Philip’s regalia’ 11 in the form of the elaborate wampum belts ‘which had once adorned Philip’s now decapitated and pathetic body’.12 According to a letter sent by Governor Josiah Winslow to King Charles II on June 26th, 1677, these belts were ‘wrought with black and white wampum in figures and flowers, and pictures of many birds and beasts’.13

C18th image of Philip, King of Mount Hope, in full royal regalia including Wampum Belts

Waldegrave, however, appears to have defaulted on his mission, as the belts were never delivered: ‘Entrusting this task to Waldegrave Pelham was a mistake. Josiah’s ne’er-do-well brother-in-law never delivered the famous regalia of the Wampanoag chieftains. It vanished and has not been seen again’.14

The last known location is believed to have been at Ferriers: ‘where Philip’s belt lies today remains a mystery. Perhaps, they are buried in the ground near the old Pelham Manor in Essex’ 15– certainly the Pelhams were accustomed to conducting burials at Ferriers, with the graves of Herbert’s daughter, Jemima, and other family members said to lie by the small pond in view of the house. 

The significance of the Wampum Belts  is underlined by the US Government’s continued lobbying of its British counterparts for their return (most recently resulting in John Major’s government instigating an unsuccessful search).

But perhaps we will shortly see a breakthrough in the mystery. The story of the belts and the question of their whereabouts is the subject of a forthcoming documentary by Wampanoag scholar Paula Peters, funded in part by the British Arts Council. Moreover an exhibition Peters has worked on entitled ‘Wampum: Stories from the Shells of Native America,’ which includes a replica, is due to tour the UK in 2021 (postponed from 2020).

Ferriers Today

The importance of Ferriers is not restricted to its role and influence in the founding of New England. As William Geoffrey Probert states in his fascinating History of Bures, this Manor has been “so closely and for so many centuries connected with [the history of] Bures”. Certainly the manorial court would have been a prominent focal point for Bures village life over the centuries.

Another local historian, Alan Beales, has added considerably to the depth of knowledge about Ferriers and its broader history on the ever-illuminating Bures website. 16 As Alan points out, the current owners themselves have historic ties to Ferriers. Jemima Waldegrave Pelham’s cousin, Mary Waldegrave, married current owner Hugh Petre’s direct antecedent, John, the 1st Baron Petre, in 1570. With the Waldegraves and Petres both part of the Essex Catholic gentry of the time, there were likely regular visits between the Waldegraves at Ferriers and Lord and Lady Petre at the family seats at Writtle Park and Thorndon Hall. 

It is deeply encouraging that the critical importance of protecting and preserving these heritage sites has been recognised in the new guide for Heritage in Neighbourhood Plans, published by the National Trust which places great emphasis on ‘identifying and safeguarding local heritage’ and through the development of a local plan ‘communities …have an opportunity to create a vision for the future…agreeing what is special and how local character and heritage can be preserved’. 17

It is difficult to overstate the importance of organisations such as the Dedham Vale Society (DVS) and the Dedham Vale AONB & Stour Valley Project (the Project) in campaigning to ensure these guidelines are upheld.  Heritage buildings possess enormous historic value through their correlation with the important events that occurred within and around them, such as the religious, social and political upheavals described in this article – they represent the history and culture of our local area and need the protection of National and Local Authorities encouraged by these and similar amenity organisations.

If you are interested in the 400th Anniversary Celebrations of the Mayflower, essential further reading includes:

  • Rebecca Fraser’s book ‘The Mayflower Generation’ – a Times History Book of the Year is available from Waterstones, Amazon and all good book shops
  • Michelle Marchetti Coughlin book ‘Penelope Winslow, Plymouth Colony First Lady: Re-Imagining a Life’.
  • www.mayflower400uk.org
Wampum: Stories from the Shells of Native America – a collaboration between The Wampanoag Nation, ‘The Box’ Museum in Plymouth and the British Museum – is scheduled to tour Lincoln, London, Southampton and Plymouth, in 2021, after its cancellation in 2020 due to COVID-19.

Editor’s Note 

In 2019 an application was made to develop the dilapidated C20th farm buildings adjoining Ferriers, including one building less than 6 metres from the grade 2 listed manorial barn, into three 5-bed executive-style rental properties, entirely inappropriate to the historic setting in the countryside. The Colne Stour Countryside Association (CSCA) formed part of a local, national and international effort objecting to the proposed development, highlighting the unique historic importance of Ferriers and the impact the development would have on the proposed extension of the Dedham Vale AONB. As the inspector recorded in his judgement rejecting the Gladman application for 98 houses off the Colchester road “the landscape around Bures, is not ordinary countryside of no value but is of high sensitivity and is locally valued”.  The support of CSCA and many others has, for the time being, led to the withdrawal of the application – although we understand that a new and virtually identical application is imminent, so please watch this space:   

https://publicaccess.braintree.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=PN5YDHBFMU200&activeTab=summary

1 https://colnestour.org/magazine_article/bures-mill-nine-centuries/

2 ‘The Mayflower Generation’ by Rebecca Fraser

3 As above

4 As above

5 BBC Radio 4, Sunday 29.12.19; ‘The Mayflower – 400 Years’

6 Governor Richard Bellingham was in 1628 the MP for Boston, Lincolnshire in the UK prior to Charles I 1629 dismissal of Parliament.

7 Painted in 1651 along with Penelope’s husband Josiah and father-in-law Edward, this trio of paintings forms one of the earliest sets of American colonial family portraits

8 Mary Boleyn was the subject of Philippa Gregory’s historical novel, ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ subsequently made into the 2008 hit film of the same name

9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6Hma82wzYE – Michelle’s lecture about Penelope, including references to Bures, Smallbridge, Bevills and Ferriers

10  ‘The Mayflower Generation’ by Rebecca Fraser

11https://books.google.com/books?id=bDzMBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA87&lpg=PA87&dq=bures+salem+witchcraft&source=bl&ots=UiqO0_Rh4u&sig=ACfU3U31R2XuUVNON87kZ96XpcqJOG8M8Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjz9bGwn-rmAhVPneAKHS8fCBIQ6AEwCnoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=bures&f=false

12 ‘King Philip’s War: The History and Legacy of America’s Forgotten Conflict’ by Eric B. Schultz and Michael J. Tougias

13 As above

14 This letter is now held in the National Archives at Kew

15 As above

16 As above

17 www.bures-online.com

18 https://nt.global.ssl.fastly.net/documents/neighbourhood-planning-and-heritage-guidance.pdf

2023 - Read about the wonderful new gallery being built in Sudbury for Gainsborough's masterpieces; follow the trail of a tireless local environmental campaigner; get ready for the second EA cultural festival, the Bures music festival and Opera at Layer Marney; discover the beautiful garden of Holm House with its wildflower meadow and lake; travel through the Colne valley along the Gainsborough line; find out where you can get local financial advice; enjoy an illustrated walk in the Stour Valley; and read our Chairman's update on proposed housing developments, solar farms, and the National Grid's Bramford to Twinstead electricity grid reinforcement project. 

2022 - Read about the wonderful new gallery being built in Sudbury for Gainsborough's masterpieces; follow the trail of a tireless local environmental campaigner; get ready for the second EA cultural festival, the Bures music festival and Opera at Layer Marney; discover the beautiful garden of Holm House with its wildflower meadow and lake; travel through the Colne valley along the Gainsborough line; find out where you can get local financial advice; enjoy an illustrated walk in the Stour Valley; and read our Chairman's update on proposed housing developments, solar farms, and the National Grid's Bramford to Twinstead electricity grid reinforcement project. 

2022 Magazine
Year: 2022
Chairman’s Letter
Year: 2022
Rebel with a cause
Year: 2022
A National Centre for Thomas Gainsborough’s Masterpieces
Year: 2022
EA Festival at Hedingham Castle
Category: Culture
Year: 2022
The Gainsborough Line
Category: Adventure. Travel, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2022
Music, Mischief and Mayhem – Opera at Layer Marney
Year: 2022
Bures Music Festival
Year: 2022
Holm House Gardens in Suffolk
Year: 2022

2020 - Welcome to our 2020 lockdown edition - only published ONLINE. Read about the wonderful Alfred Munnings Exhibition "Behind the Lines"; find out how the beavers have been getting on at the Spains Hall Estate in Finchingfield, introduced back into Essex after an absence of 400 years; explore the link between Ferriers in Bures and the Voyage of the Mayflower, the Salem Witch trials and Wampum belts; read a fascinating interview with Carl Shillingford, talented Michelin chef and keen local forager; and enjoy a celebratory update from Ken Forrester on South African wines and his support for a wonderful local school.  

2020 Magazine
Year: 2020
Chairman’s Letter
Year: 2020
Behind the Lines: Alfred Munnings, War Artist
Category: Art, Culture
Year: 2020
The Foragers Retreat – Michelin chef in Pebmarsh.
Category: Food, Nature
Year: 2020
Dam Good Job – Beavers back in Essex after 400 years.
Category: Explore Colne Stour, Nature
Year: 2020
Ferriers – a Bures house and its connection to the Mayflower.
Category: Adventure. Travel, Architectural Interest, Culture, History
Year: 2020
Three special milestones for Ken Forrester Wines  
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2020

2019 - Read about Tudor living on a grand scale at Alston Court, how Samuel Courtauld & Co. shaped our towns and villages, hear inspiring stories of local vineyards Tuffon Hall and West Street, get an update on the Dedham Vale AONB extension, and take a tour round Polstead Mill, one of East Anglia's beautiful secret gardens. 

Chairman’s Letter
Year: 2019
Dedham Vale AONB extension
Year: 2019
The Tuffon Hall Transformation
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2019
A Hong Kong racehorse in an Essex field
Category: Nature
Year: 2019
Andy Gentle – A chainsaw love affair
Category: Business
Year: 2019
A vivid insight into Tudor living on the grand scale.
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2019
Underground Moats & Zinc Cathedrals
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2019
Secret Gardens of East Anglia – Polstead Mill
Category: Gardens
Year: 2019
Repairing the damage of a supermarket delivery van
Year: 2019
How Samuel Courtauld and Co. shaped our towns and villages
Category: Architectural Interest, Culture, History
Year: 2019
Ken Forrester
Year: 2019
CSCA Photography Competition
Year: 2019
Garden Visits
Category: Gardens
Year: 2019
Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2019

2018 - Read about Hedingham Castle, a new National Centre for Gainsborough in Sudbury, award-winning new Gins from Adnams, aspects of our Industrial Heritage, the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds, the Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Project, and take a look at the proposed new Constitution for CSCA.. 

Chairmans Letter April 2018
Category: Annual, News, Planning Issues
Year: 2018
History of the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds
Category: Architectural Interest, Art, Culture, History
Year: 2018
Another Suffolk Success Story – Time for a G & T?
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2018
Some more aspects of our Industrial Heritage
Category: Agricultural, Brewing, distilling and wine, History
Year: 2018
An Earl’s Tower
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2018
A Castle Reborn
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2018
Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Project
Category: Explore Colne Stour, Nature, Planning Issues
Year: 2018
A National Centre for Gainsborough set within the town where he was born and the landscape that inspired him
Category: Architectural Interest, Art, History
Year: 2018
Garden Visits
Category: Gardens, History
Year: 2018
Treasurer’s Report
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2018
New Constitution
Year: 2018
Editor’s Notes
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2018

2017 - Read about our local industrial heritage, Paycocke's House history, why heritage matters, the art of Alfred Munnings, a haunted house in Lamarsh, celebrating Gainsborough, the beauty of recreating Cedric Morris's Iris collection and a small wine snippet from Ken Forrester. 

Chairmans Letter April 2017
Category: Annual, News, Planning Issues
Year: 2017
Heritage Matters
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2017
Some aspects of our Industrial Heritage
Category: History
Year: 2017
Paycocke’s House: a witness to history
Category: Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2017
The House of his Dreams: Reimagining The Munnings Art Museum
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2017
‘The Haunted House’ of Lamarsh – Some Early Reflections
Category: History
Year: 2017
Gainsborough’s House: Celebrating the Past and Looking to the Future
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2017
Another, highly unusual, Suffolk Success Story
Category: Gardens, Nature
Year: 2017
Garden Visits 2017
Category: Gardens, Nature
Year: 2017
Dirty Little Secret
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2017
Website
Category: News
Year: 2017
Editor’s Notes
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2017
Treasurer’s Report
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2017

2016 - Interesting articles on medieval graffiti, farming in the Stour Valley, exploring our AONB, early settlers from the Stour Valley to America, the archaeology of a local farm, a wonderful catalogue of British birds, celebrating a Suffolk joinery business, the weather from a South African winery. 

Chairmans Letter
Category: Annual
Year: 2016
Medieval Graffiti: the hidden histories…
Category: History
Year: 2016
Stour Valley Farming
Category: Business
Year: 2016
The Godly Kingdom of the Stour Valley
Category: History
Year: 2016
Keeping It Special in the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and Stour Valley Project
Category: Nature
Year: 2016
Lodge Farm, Rectory Road, Wyverstone Street, Suffolk
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2016
A Miscellany of Information about British Birds
Category: Nature
Year: 2016
Another Suffolk Success Story
Category: Business
Year: 2016
Garden Visits
Category: Gardens
Year: 2016
Harvest, Fires and Fynbos
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2016
LOOKING FORWARDS, BEFORE I GET LEFT BEHIND….
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2016
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2016
Annual General Meeting and Summer Party
Category: A.G.M.
Year: 2016
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2016

2015 - The life and times of a flint knapper. A continuation about the history of the ancient farm at Henny and a visit to the inside of Alston Court, Nayland as well as an insight into The Antiques Roadshow.  

Chairman’s Letter – February 2015
Category: Annual
Year: 2015
Caught Knapping
Category: History
Year: 2015
ALSTON COURT
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2015
ORGANIC MUTTERINGS
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2015
THE STORY OF SPARROW’S FARM, GREAT HENNY – PART 2
Category: History
Year: 2015
ON AND OFF THE ANTIQUES ROADSHOW
Category: Business
Year: 2015
UNLOCKING THE ARTIST WITHIN: FINE ART LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2015
BADGERS – LOVE’EM, OR HATE’EM?
Category: Nature
Year: 2015
GARDEN VISITS
Category: Gardens
Year: 2015
FORRESTER VINEYARDS, SOUTH AFRICA
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2015
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2015
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2015

2014 - A hair-raising flight from UK to South Africa and an insight into the Wineries of Stellenbosch. An exceptional old mill just outside Bures and a most unusual chapel on the hill behind, as well as a time warp farm at Henny. 

Chairman’s Letter – February 2014
Category: Annual
Year: 2014
ST. STEPHEN’S CHAPEL, BURES
Category: History
Year: 2014
THE STELLENBOSCH WINE ROUTE – THE PEOPLE AND THE DOGS!
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2014
THE UPS AND DOWNS OF A FLIGHT TO STELLENBOSCH AND BACK
Category: Adventure. Travel
Year: 2014
A SUFFOLK SUCCESS STORY – JIM LAWRENCE LTD
Category: Business
Year: 2014
HOLD FARM, BURES ST MARY; A RARE TUDOR WATERMILL
Category: Architectural Interest
Year: 2014
THE STORY OF SPARROW’S FARM, GREAT HENNY
Category: History
Year: 2014
YOUR COUNTRYSIDE – FIGHT FOR IT NOW! your Britain fight for it now
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2014
TUNBRIDGEWARE
Category: History
Year: 2014
EXTENDING THE DEDHAM VALE AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY (AONB) – UPDATE
Category: News, Planning Issues
Year: 2014
GARDEN VISITS
Category: Annual, Gardens
Year: 2014
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2014
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2014

2013 - Watermills on the Stour. How Constable and Gainsborough would have seen many of the buildings in our area. Let’s protect the Stour Valley by extending the AONB from where we take over from The Dedham Vale at Wormingford towards Sudbury. 

Chairman’s Letter – February 2013
Category: Annual
Year: 2013
THE WATERMILLS OF THE RIVER STOUR
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2013
MANAGING A MASTERPIECE: THE STOUR VALLEY LANDSCAPE PARTNERSHIP
Category: Art, History
Year: 2013
EXTENDING THE DEDHAM VALE AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY (AONB)
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2013
BUILDINGS IN THE EAST ANGLIAN LANDSCAPE – AS SEEN BY JOHN CONSTABLE
Category: Art, History
Year: 2013
THE ROUND CHURCH AT MAPLESTEAD
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2013
THE FINE WINES OF ENGLAND
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2013
PROGRESS AGAINST PYLONS: A ROUNDUP OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE PYLONS SAGA
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2013
TEA AND THE TEA CADDY A BRIEF STUDY OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF TEA AND ITS CONTAINERS
Category: History
Year: 2013
GARDEN VISITS
Category: Annual, Gardens
Year: 2013
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2013
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2013

2012 - A walk through many of the churches along the River Stour and how the Romans once lived right here in our midst, and how your pint is brewed. Also the ongoing fight to rid the Stour of the blight of Pylons. 

CHAIRMAN’S LETTER – FEBRUARY 2012
Category: Annual
Year: 2012
TREES R US – AN AMATEUR ARBORETUM
Category: Nature
Year: 2012
GLIMPSES INTO SOME STOUR VALLEY CHURCHES
Category: Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2012
THE ART OF BREWING
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2012
PLANNING REFORM
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2012
‘ELF ‘N SAFETY . . . AND ALL THAT
Category: Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2012
BRINGING OUR PAST TO LIFE: GESTINGTHORPE ROMAN VILLA
Category: History
Year: 2012
MINIATURE OR APPRENTICE PIECE?
Category: History
Year: 2012
GAINSBOROUGH’S VIEW
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2012
NEW STOUR VALLEY ENVIRONMENT FUND
Category: News
Year: 2012
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2012
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2012
THE COLNE STOUR COUNTRYSIDE ASSOCIATION. MINUTES OF THE 46TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD AT FERRIERS BARN, BURES ON THURSDAY 12TH MAY 2011
Category: A.G.M.
Year: 2012

2011 - The brewers of East Anglia. The gardens of Marks Hall as well as the paintings of Alfred Munnings on display in Sudbury. How a small church became the Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds and all you need to know about antique birdcages. 

CHAIRMAN’S LETTER – APRIL 2011
Category: Annual
Year: 2011
Pylons
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2011
THE PAINTED CHURCH BECOMES BURY’S CATHEDRAL
Category: History
Year: 2011
MARKS HALL AND THE PHILLIPS PRICE TRUST
Category: History
Year: 2011
BREWING IN EAST ANGLIA
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2011
BURES MILL OVER NINE CENTURIES
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2011
LANDSCAPES BY MUNNINGS EXHIBITION AT GAINSBOROUGH’S HOUSE
Category: Art
Year: 2011
BIRD-CAGES – A FASCINATION
Category: History
Year: 2011
DAWS HALL EVENTS 2011
Category: Annual
Year: 2011
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2011
GARDEN VISITS
Category: Annual, Gardens
Year: 2011
TREASURERS REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2011
THE COLNE STOUR COUNTRYSIDE ASSOCIATION. MINUTES OF THE 45TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD AT FERRIERS BARN, BURES ON THURSDAY 6TH MAY 2010
Category: A.G.M.
Year: 2011
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2010
Category: A.G.M.
Year: 2011

2010 - An artist who enjoyed his port and a canoe adventure along the Stour. Sudbury’s history and Coggeshall Abbey and a fight to get rid of Pylons from the Stour Valley. 

Chairmans Letter
Category: Annual
Year: 2010
A Pint of Port to Paint a Picture
Category: Art, History
Year: 2010
A Walk Round Coggeshall Abbey
Category: Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2010
By Canoe to Cattawade
Category: Adventure. Travel, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2010
Nocturnal Visitors
Category: Nature
Year: 2010
Sudbury New Town – c.1330
Category: History
Year: 2010
A Stay in a Nomad’s Tent
Category: Business
Year: 2010
Freeing our countryside of the blight of pylons
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2010
Hobbies on the Stour
Category: Nature
Year: 2010
Editor’s Notes
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2010
Website
Category: News
Year: 2010
Annual General Meeting 2009
Category: Annual
Year: 2010

2009 - Norwich School art and the Maplesteads. Ancient wallpapers, and is Long Melford the epitome of a Suffolk village? and don’t throw away a rug before checking what it is. 

Chairmans Letter
Category: Annual
Year: 2009
By Hook or by Crook
Category: Art, History
Year: 2009
Unwanted Wildlife – Some Handy Hints
Category: Gardens
Year: 2009
East Ruston Old Vicarage
Category: Gardens
Year: 2009
Squash a Squirrel – Save a Tree
Category: Nature
Year: 2009
Historic Wallpapers and Cole & Son
Category: Business
Year: 2009
Long Melford – ‘Suffolk in a day’
Category: Architectural Interest, Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2009
Don’t throw away a fortune!
Category: Business
Year: 2009
Garden Visits. Away Days
Category: Gardens
Year: 2009
Website
Category: Annual
Year: 2009
Editors Notes
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2009
Annual General Meeting 2008
Category: Annual
Year: 2009

2008 - The bell founders of Sudbury and all about a rogue from our area, Sir John Hawkwood, and a Sudbury secret – Gainsborough’s House. 

Member’s Letter
Category: Annual
Year: 2008
Cycling in Suffolk – An Environmental Holiday
Category: Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2008
The Sudbury Bell Founders
Category: History
Year: 2008
The CSCA Website
Category: News
Year: 2008
From Sible Hedingham to Florence. The Remarkable Life of Sir John Hawkwood
Category: History
Year: 2008
‘One of Suffolk’s Best Kept Secrets’- Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2008
Discovering Historic Wallpaper in East Anglian Houses
Category: History
Year: 2008
The not so humble Mole (Talpa Europaea) and how to catch him
Category: Nature
Year: 2008
Annual Report 2007.
Category: Annual
Year: 2008

2007 - Why a bell had to be chipped to get into the belfry at Lamarsh. Watermills on the Colne and Dragonflies. 

Water Mills on the Upper Colne
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2007
Dragonflies on the Stour
Category: Nature
Year: 2007
Lamarsh Bell Restoration
Category: Architectural Interest
Year: 2007
The CSCA Website
Category: News
Year: 2007
What is wrong with our Horse Chestnuts?
Category: Nature
Year: 2007

 

 

 

 

 

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WEBSITE EDITOR

Emma Stewart-Smith

MAGAZINE EDITOR

Christy Simson

CHAIRMAN

Alexander Robson

HON TREASURER

Michael Goodbody

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