Halstead has long been known to have close links with the Courtauld family.

There are many houses in Halstead, including some in Hedingham Road, Mallows Field and Colchester Road, which are named after novels by Jane Austen, the prolific 19th Century writer of classics such as Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Northanger Abbey.

Halstead Historian Jim Davis, said: “Samuel Courtauld built the houses in 1926 to 1930.

“I don’t know why he named them after Jane Austen novels, but The Sense and Sensibility house in Hedingham Road was the old manor house.”

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