Cotesbach Estate - A Brief History

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The first generation of the Marriott family to be brought up at Cotesbach were the eight children of Robert Marriott in the late 18th Century. His father, a gentleman farmer from Braunston, had died in his 40s leaving his young son an inheritance. Once Robert had qualified as a Rector in 1768, he moved to Cotesbach. Robert married his wife Elizabeth in 1771.

 

Through thick and thin: fatal illness, tragic accident, economic downturn, war, Marriott Rectors held the living of Cotesbach for over a century. Religion and education were as closely bound to everyday life as the agricultural tradition.

 

Robert was succeeded by his son Robert, whose son James became Rector until 1871. James died young of scarlet fever leaving the estate (and many children) to his eldest surviving son Charles. Charles later on became father to three daughters and eight sons, of whom one was mentally disabled, two were killed on the battlefields near Ypres, and two died of childhood illnesses. His son James, (later called Strickland) was Rector for a few years between the Wars, and his son Rowley purchased the core of the Estate from his brother after WWII and remained living there until his death in 1992, when the current (7th and 8th) generations of the family took it on. 

 

Stories of Cotesbach past are emerging from the Cotesbach Educational Trust archive like a Pandora’s box, challenging our view of rural England at every step. Here in the centre of the country, where we still have fields, a built heritage spanning five or more centuries within a stone’s throw, and a thriving community, there can hardly be a better place to engage with our heritage and understand the fragile time we live in.