Colchester churches

Coordinates: 51°53′24″N 0°54′04″E / 51.890°N 0.901°E / 51.890; 0.901 Colchester in Essex, England, has a number of notable churches.

Early churches

Butt Road Roman Church

During excavations in the 1980s for a new police station close to the Maldon Road roundabout, 371 Roman graves and a long narrow building were excavated. The building was constructed between AD320 and 340. Oriented east to west, an apse was added to the east end in a later phase. The building was divided by a wooden screen and two rows of posts ran down the eastern half forming aisles. The building has been interpreted on strong circumstantial evidence as an early Christian church.^[1] If this is correct, it is probably the earliest known Christian church in Britain. The remains have been preserved and are visible from the public footpath.^[2]

St Helen's Chapel

St Helen's Chapel

Dedicated to Saint Helena, the 14th Century Chronicle of Colchester states that the chapel was founded by the saint herself and refounded by Eudo Dapifer in 1076. Most of the present building dates from the 12th and 13th Centuries, incorporating Roman brick. Excavations in 1981 and 1984 in Maidenburgh Street, have shown that the Roman stone and brickwork under the north and east walls were part of a theatre.^[3] During the 14th Century, chantries were established in the chapel, but it was closed in 1539 after the Dissolution of St John's Abbey and it went into secular use. It became a house, a school, a library, a Quaker meeting-house and a warehouse. In the 1880s, the Round family who owned the castle, had the chapel restored by William Butterfield. After use as a clergy meeting-room and a parish hall, it was used by the Castle Museum as a store. Since 2000, it has again been used as a place of worship by the Orthodox Parish of St Helen.^[4]

Medieval churches

Main article: History of Colchester

St John's Abbey

The Abbey Gate

The Benedictine abbey of St. John the Baptist, generally known as "St. John's Abbey," founded in 1096,^[5] had a beautiful late 11th century church until the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the execution of its abbot in 1539. Now all that remains is the gatehouse on St John's Green, which dates from the 15th century,^[6] and the small church with a wooden tower (St. Leonard's) which was built for the layworkers on the site.

St Giles, St John's Green

St Giles' Church

Originally built on part of St John's Abbey cemetery around AD 1150, contains work from every century since. It was declared redundant in 1956 and then used as a St John Ambulance depot until 1975 when it was converted in to masonic centre.^[6][7]

St Botolph's Priory

St Botolph's Priory

The Augustinian priory of St. Botolph, generally known as "St. Botolph's Priory", was also established in the 11th century. This adopted the Augustinian Order in around 1200 and became the mother church of the order in Britain. At the Dissolution the priory church of St. Botolph became the parish church. It was also used by the Corporation on civic occasions until the English Civil War. In 1650 the church was described as burnt and ruined after the Siege of Colchester, and it has been left in ruins. Until the construction of a new church in 1837, parishioners attended All Saints church instead, although burials continued in the churchyard.^[8]

St Mary-at-the-Walls

On Church Street, to the east of Balkerne Hill is St Mary-at-the-Walls, built against the Roman Walls and overlooking the western suburbs of the town. First recorded in 1206, the church has a notable history. It is the site at which 23 Protestant martyrs were executed by burning during the reign of the Mary I ("Bloody Mary"). During the English Civil War the church tower was used as a gun emplacement by the Royalist army, this resulted in its destruction by New Model Army siege batteries. The theory that the tower gave rise to the rhyme Humpty Dumpty is now probably disproved. The tower of the Norman church remains, the rest was rebuilt in red brick in 1713 - 14. Philip Morant, the Essex historian, was Rector from 1737 to 1770.^[9] There was a further major rebuild in 1872^[10] In 1978, the parish was united with Christ Church in a new building in Ireton Road.^[9] The old church became redundant; the bell went to St Leonard's in Lexden and the organ to Brentwood Cathedral.^[11] In 1980, the building reopened as the Colchester Arts Centre.

St. Martin's

Main article: St Martin's Church, Colchester

St. Martin's

St. Martin's church still survives in its original Norman state. The church is located on West Stockwell Street in the old Dutch Quarter. Its tower was damaged during the English Civil War and was never repaired. Today the church building is in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust and is used as a community venue. The key is available from the Colchester Borough Council museum service.

St. Runwald's

St. Runwald's church is one of only three churches were ever dedicated to the Saint in Britain. The church in Colchester formerly stood as part of "middle row" in the High Street. It was demolished, along with other buildings in the row, during the 1860s. The church graveyard is located in West Stockwell Street, behind the Colchester Town Hall.

St. Nicholas

St Nicholas church formerly stood on the High Street. The original church was 12th century and the church was rebuilt in the 14th century, and restored again between 1875-76 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. The church had the highest spire in Colchester. The church was demolished in 1955 by the Church of England authorities and the site was sold for commercial redevelopment. The Colchester Co-operative Society built at department store ("St Nicholas House") on the site. The building is currently used by JJB Sports.

All Saints, High Street

Declared a redundant church in 1953, now used as a Natural History Museum. Situated opposite Colchester Castle at MapRef TL 999252. Pevsner^[6] states that there is little of interest beyond the flint decorated west tower, the rest having undergone much Victorian rebuilding.

Holy Trinity

Holy Trinity is the oldest surviving church building in Colchester. The church is located on Trinity Street in the town centre. Parts of the church tower are believed to date to around 1020 (the Anglo-Saxon period) and an earlier church building may have existed on the site. In particular, there is a unique pointed Saxon doorway in the West side of the tower. The churchyard contains the burial places of William Gilbert, discoverer of electro-magneticism and physician to Queen Elizabeth I, and John Wilbye, the composer. Holy Trinity Church is now a cafe and youth venue for arts and music.

St James the Great

St. James the Great is a Church of England church located on East Hill in Colchester. The oldest part of the church dates to the 12th Century. The nave, tower, and two aisles were built between the 13th and 15th Centuries. The chancel and the Chapels of Our Lady and St. Peter and St. Paul were added around 1500. The radical priest John Ball, a leader of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 preached at the church. [1]

Georgian churches

St Peter's

St Peter's on North Hill

Also still a church with a surviving bell tower, St Peter's in on North Hill and was built in 1758. The bells can be heard every Thursday in the town centre. The church is always open through the day and details of its history are available there.

Quaker Meeting House

A Grade II listed building in Church Street dating from 1803.^[12]

Colchester Baptist Church

Built in 1834 in Eld Lane, on the site of Colchester's first purpose-built Baptist chapel of 1711.^[13]

Victorian churches

All Saints, Shrub End

The parish church of Shrub End; formerly part of Lexden, it became a separate parish in 1845. Designed in the Decorated style by D. R. French, the red brick church has a tower with a slated spire.^[8] MapRef TL 970232.

St Botolph's

St Botolph's Church

The current church building was dedicated in 1837, It is built in the style of the old Norman building, with semicircular arches and Norman ornamentation and was designed by William Mason of Ipswich. The Church was nearly destroyed by fire during the 1943 air raids. It had its own team of fire watchers which dealt with several incendiary bombs.

The Garrison Church

Built in Military Road in 1855 to provide services to soldiers going to the Crimean War, this huge Grade II* listed timber church could hold services for 500 people. It is now St John's Russian Orthodox Church.^[12]

Modern churches

Colchester New Church

Colchester New Church

The Colchester New Church on 175 Maldon Road, was built in 1924. In 1967 the church building was expanded. The sanctuary was extended two metres in length, a new school room, and a new entrance porch were added. The designer of the new additions was architect Geoff P. Dawson.^[14]

Castle Methodist Church

Located in Maidenburgh Street next to Colchester Castle, this modern building was opened in 1970, but stands on the site of the "great round meeting house" where John Wesley preached in the 18th Century. A wooden pulpit that he used is preserved in the new church.^[15]

References

1. ^ "Colchester - Butt Road". Unlocking Essex. http://unlockingessex.essexcc.gov.uk/custom_pages/monument_detail.asp?content_page_id=89&monument_id=36299&content_parents=61. Retrieved 2010-04-16. 
2. ^ "Roman Church". East of England Tourist Board. http://www.eastofenglandtouristboard.com/accommodation/thedms.aspx?dms=13&dc=EE&wc=CE&gc=ee-eet&feature=13&venue=0655171. Retrieved 2010-04-16. 
3. ^ "St Helens Chapel". Unlocking Essex. http://unlockingessex.essexcc.gov.uk/custom_pages/monument_detail.asp?content_page_id=89&monument_id=35529&content_parents=61. Retrieved 2010-04-16. 
4. ^ "Orthodox Parish of St Helen of Colchester". Orthodox Colchester. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/orthodox.colchester/chapel.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-16. 
5. ^ Historic Building in Colchester
6. ^ ^{a b c} Pevsner, Nikolaus (rev Radcliffe, Enid). The Buildings of England, Essex (2nd edition). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd. (1965).
7. ^ St John's Abbey explored. The Colchester archaeologist 15, 23-27 (2002)
8. ^ ^{a b} http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22008
9. ^ ^{a b} "Seax - Christ Church with St Mary-at-the-Walls". Seax. http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/result_details.asp?DocID=30278. Retrieved 2010-04-16. 
10. ^ "A Watching Brief at St Mary's Arts Centre" (PDF). Colchester Archaeological Trust. http://cat.essex.ac.uk/reports/CAT-report-0035.pdf. Retrieved 2010-04-16. 
11. ^ http://www.genealogy.com/users/w/a/d/Karen-E-Waddy/FILE/0017text.txt
12. ^ ^{a b} http://www.colchestermuseums.org.uk/infodesk/downloads/HODs%202010.pdf
13. ^ http://www.colchesterbaptistchurch.org.uk/eldlane.php/aboutus/churchhistory/
14. ^ "The Smallest School". (July 9, 1968). Colchester Gazette, p. 1.
15. ^ "Castle Methodist Church Colchester". http://www.castlemethodistchurch.org.uk/. Retrieved 2010-04-16.