Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 12, 2026

Layer Marney

Layer Marney is a village and civil parish in the Colchester district of Essex, England, near Tiptree. The parish includes the hamlet of Smythe's Green. Layer Marney has a Tudor palace called Layer Marney Tower and the Church of St Mary the Virgin. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 230. Layer Marney is the westernmost and least populous of the three neighbouring parishes called Layer, the others being Layer Breton and Layer-de-la-Haye.

Last revised
Jun 12, 2026
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Layer Marney
Parish church of St Mary the Virgin
Layer Marney
Location within Essex
Population230 (Parish, 2021)1
Civil parish
  • Layer Marney
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townCOLCHESTER
Postcode districtCO5

Layer Marney is a village and civil parish in the Colchester district of Essex, England, near Tiptree. The parish includes the hamlet of Smythe's Green. Layer Marney has a Tudor palace called Layer Marney Tower2 and the Church of St Mary the Virgin.3 At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 230. Layer Marney is the westernmost and least populous of the three neighbouring parishes called Layer, the others being Layer Breton and Layer-de-la-Haye.

History

In the Domesday Book of 1086 there were a number of manorial estates at a place simply called Layer in the Winstree hundred of Essex. No church or priest was mentioned in any of the entries for Layer in the Domesday Book.4 The Layer area subsequently came to comprise the three parishes of Layer Marney, Layer Breton, and Layer-de-la-Haye.5

In 1879 Kezia Peache and her brother became the Lord and Lady of the Manor of Layer Marney.6 The Peache siblings paid for the substantial repairs required to Layer Marney Tower.7

References

References

  1. "2021 Census Parish Profiles". NOMIS. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 31 March 2025. (To get individual parish data, use the query function on table PP002.)
  2. Stuff, Good. "Layer Marney Tower, Layer Marney, Essex". britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2026.
  3. "Church of ST Mary the Virgin, Layer Marney, Essex".
  4. "Layer [Breton, de la Haye and Marney] | Domesday Book". opendomesday.org. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  5. Youngs, Frederic (1979). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England: Volume I, Southern England. London: Royal Historical Society. p. 142. ISBN 0901050679.
  6. Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004). "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. ref:odnb/47240. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47240. Retrieved 21 February 2023. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  7. "Nostalgia: Focus on one of area's many historic jewels - and its Tudor connections". Gazette. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
External links