Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford mismanaged his finances and in 1583 the estate, then comprising the manor and park of seven hundred acres, were purchased from him by his steward Richard Harlakenden.

Earls Colne is one of the best recorded villages in the UK and has been the subject of a study undertaken between 1972 and 2002 by Professor Alan Macfarlane and his team from the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge.

The manorial records have been transcribed from Latin and these together with the parish registers, tithe maps and Ralph Josselin's diary have been indexed by place, person and date.

When Sir R. H. Hunt, the founder's grandson, died in 1970, the firm was still the village's chief employer with some 300 employees and works covering 10 acres (4.0 ha).

The current store occupies a building dating to between 1480 and 1510, the roof timbers being preserved and exposed in-store to enable the public to appreciate the method of construction.

Earls Colne Grammar School originally occupied a site in Lower Holt Street, but moved to premises in York Road which were opened on 12 September 1893.