 Central to late nineteenth and early twentieth century life in the village was the Earls Colne Industrial and Co-operative Society.The Earls Colne Co-op was one of the last remaining independent village co-operative societies in Essex and Suffolk, finally merging with the far larger Colchester and East Essex society in 1970.The Earls Colne Co-op was founded in 1884 in the front room of a cottage in High Street.