LAYER-MARNEY, a parish, with a village, in Lexden district, Essex; on a branch of the river Roman, 4¾ miles E by S of Kelvedon r. station, and 7 SW of Colchester. Post town, Kelvedon. Acres, 1, 973. Real property, £2, 078. Pop., 276. Houses, 60. The property is divided among a few. The manor belonged, in the time of Edward the Confessor, to the Bishop of London, and passed to the Tryons, the Tukes, the Marneys, and the Corsellises. Layer-Marney Hall was built, in 1530, by Henry, Lord Marney; was a very fine brick mansion, with diagonal lines of dark glazed bricks, and flint; and is represented now by only the great entrance tower, 70 feet high, with four octagonal corner turrets, and commanding a fine view. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £466.* Patron, the Rev. H. P. L. Blood. The church is later English; was made collegiate in 1330; consists of nave, N aisle, and chancel, with a brick tower; and contains a good screen and font, and handsome monuments of the Marneys and the Corsellises. There is a national school.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))