Little Horkesley is a civil parish in the City of Colchester district of Essex, England. It is situated approximately 4 miles north of Colchester on the south bank of the River Stour. In the time of Elizabeth I, the manor of Little Horkesley belonged to the Wentworth family, a branch of the notable Yorkshire family who became Earl of Stafford, and then passed by inheritance to a branch of the St. Lawrence family who had the title Baron and later Earl of Howth.