Roslyns is located in a small village with a big history called Little Easton.
Little Easton dates from the 12th century and is recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086 as Estaines Parva in the Hundred of Dunmow.
Little Easton is a very traditional village and resides in the parish of the Dunmow Hundred, and the Rural Deanery of Dunmow and Archdeaconry of Essex in the Diocese of St Albans. St Mary's parish church has memorial monuments to Viscount Maynard (died 1865) and others of the Maynard family from 1610 to 1746 in the Bouchier chapel. in 1882 remains of "nearly obliterated... ancient" wall paintings were present within the church. The north aisle was rebuilt in 1881 at a cost of £1,500. An organ was added 1891 in memory of the 4th Earl Rosslyn by Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick at a cost of £500. Church sittings at the time numbered 200. The church register dates to 1559. The benefice was a rectory with residence in the gift of Viscount Maynard's trustees in 1882, and, with 38 acres (0.15 km2) of glebe (land to support a parish priest) in the gift of the Countess of Warwick in 1902..
Roslyns was built as a school - a hall and a schoolmasters house.
It was a National School for boys and girls, built for 80 children in 1878, and had an average in 1882 of nine and in 1902 of 54.
The Earl and Countess of Warwick (Lord and Lady Brooke) lived in the parish at Easton Lodge. They were also resident at Berwick House in the Stable Yard of St James's Palace, London, and in 1902, after elevation to title, lived in Warwick Castle. In 1882 the Earl of Rosslyn also lived at Easton Lodge, and at 51 Grosvenor Street, and Carlton and White's clubs in London.
Parish occupations in 1882 included three farmers, one of whom was also a miller (water), a farm bailiff, a beer retailer, a fanwright (maker of fans), two shopkeepers, the publican of the Stag Inn, an accountant, an agent to the Earl of Rosslyn, and a clerk to the Easton estates. By 1902 the number of farmers and beer retailers remained the same. The Stag Inn was still operating, and there was a wheelwright, although now only one shopkeeper. There was a Treasurer and Honorary Secretary of the Workmen's Club, and the artists Frank and Charlotte Mura at Mill End studio. The clerk to the Easton estates remained, although the agent to the Earl of Rosslyn had moved on.
During the second world war the US Air Force created an airfield at nearby Easton Lodge, which was the base of the 386th Bomb Group (Marauders) of the 9th AF USAAF. Although the airfield has long been transformed back into fields, the outline of the airport is evident from the air, as seen through Google Earth, just to the right of the current Stansted Airport the land was gifted to the Church of England by the Countess of Rosslyn after the death of the Earl who owned a fair bit of land in the surrounding area.
There is a fascinating document written in old English which is where the previous owners discovered the link with the Rosslyn family. The name Rosslyn in old English appeared to be spelt with just one s and they found out later that the little squiggle under the s meant it was actually double s! The property was gifted to the Church of England probably by the Earl, linked with Rosslyn in Scotland and linked with the Little Easton Manor.
In 2004, the previous owners renovated the house as a Bed-&-Breakfast establishment and retained the two front doors and the two staircases, they also had plans to instal two dormer windows from the two upstairs bedrooms looking out to the rear. They have provided the photos below which shows how it was when they bought it. They purchased the property from the ex school-mistresses Grand Daughter, by then the plot of land to the east (which used to be the garden) had been sold as a house plot.
The School Mistresses's son, Harry was a Botany teacher, and he bought the property after it ceased to be a school around 1960 and they turned it into two cottages, Estaines & another name . The School Mistress and Harry lived in the school hall side and the School Mistresses's daughter and husband lived in the house side.
There are still a few people in the village who went to the school who have assisted in putting the history together. Apparently there was an old bunker/shelter used in the war, which was either at the corner of the school hall drive side just between the fence and the outside tap (under the oil tank in the photo) or over by the boundary fence where cars are parked in front of the garages. Apparently the bunker was merely filled in however there is no new evidence of it which is a pity as it could have been a wine cellar.
The old photos show the entrance way to the school used to be on the left side of the school hall as you look at it, visible by the roof line in the bricks anyway. There used to be a chimney just to the right of the porch that was added at the front, the foundations of the old chimney were removed when the front paving was laid. Probably the great shame at the time of the first renovations in the early 1960’s was that the large windows on the gable ends of the school hall were taken out.
The other entrance to the house used to be the cloakroom and there was an external door, basically in the location of the ground-floor toilet window, on the west elevation that presumably led to the toilets, which of course at the time where sited externally to the left of where the cherry tree. There was an extension added in the dining room area - probably a laundry for the school. There were tiles on the ground-floor when the previous owner lifted the floor.
The stairs for the house side of the school were relocated to where they were originally when the previous owners renovated the property.
We bought the property in late 2018, after five years of living in Roslyns as tenants. We had spoken to the planners to ensure that our vision could be realised. We obtained planning in late 2018 and then the fun started!..
