In 1162 an order of Augustinian monks was founded in the village at nearby Notley Abbey. The park in which the abbey stood was donated to the abbey itself by the incumbent of the manor, the Earl of Buckingham. At the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries the annual income was calculated as over £437: an immense amount of money for the time. The abbey still stands, but as a secular manor house. In the 20th century it was the marital home of actors Sir Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.