Well there is a lot of controversy over the true definition of colony and whether Ireland fits the definition. Since william the conqueror is England a colony of France? At a stretch it could be argued within the pale was partially colonised. Does that define it as a colony?
There are several possible candidates for "earlier colonies" than Ireland. These are the English "possessions" in France.

Normandy, of course (unless we want to count England as a Norman colony), the duchies of Gascony and Aquitaine, the Counties of Anjou, Poitou, Maine, Touraine, Saintonge, Marche, Perigord, Limousin, Nantes and Quercy. In short, the Angevin Empire in France.

We could also possibly count Wales (or at least the Welsh Marches) as an early English Colony, and Cornwall.

Later, after the first English lordship of Ireland, but before the second English Kingdom of Ireland, Calais in France was an "English Colony" from 1347 to 1558.