Churches in Colchester

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Coordinates: 51°53′24″N 0°54′04″E / 51.890°N 0.901°E / 51.890; 0.901
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Holy Trinity Church, Colchester, the tower of which is early 11th century Anglo-Saxon.

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

The visible remains of the Roman church.
Main article: Camulodunum § Christianity in the Late Roman Town

Excavations in the 1980s for a new police station near the Maldon Road roundabout unearthed 371 Roman graves and a long narrow building. The building was built between AD 320 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

Main article: St Helen's Chapel, Colchester
St Helen's Chapel

Dedicated to

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 Eastern Orthodox Parish of St Helen.[4]

Medieval churches

Main article: History of Colchester § Medieval era

All Saints

All Saints’ Church is a twelfth-century church located in Colchester High Street. In 1953 it was declared a

MapRef TL 999252. The church has a fine flint-built tower of the 15th century. However the rest of the building was extensively rebuilt in the mid 19th century.[5]

St Botolph's Priory

St Botolph's Priory
Main article: St Botolph's Priory

The

a new church in 1837, parishioners attended All Saints’ Church instead, although burials continued in the churchyard.[7]

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.

St. John Ambulance depot until 1975 when it was converted into a masonic centre.[9]

Holy Trinity

Holy Trinity is the oldest surviving church building in Colchester. It is on Trinity Street in the city centre. Parts of the church tower are

Elizabeth I, and the composer John Wilbye
.

St James the Great

Main article: St James the Great, Colchester

Our Lady and Saint Peter and Saint Paul were added around 1500. The radical priest John Ball, a leader of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 preached at the church.[11]

St John's Abbey

The Abbey Gate
Main article: St John's Abbey, Colchester

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,[12] and the church of St Giles, used as the parish church of the abbey.[13]

St Martin's

Main article: St Martin's Church, Colchester
Photograph of the west side of St Martin's church
St Martin's

Colchester Borough Council
museum service.

St Mary-at-the-Walls

Main article: Colchester Arts Centre

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 city. First recorded in 1206, the church has a notable history. It is the site where 23

executed by burning in the reign of the Mary I. In the English Civil War a Royalist army used the church tower as a gun emplacement, which resulted in its destruction by New Model Army siege batteries. The theory that the tower gave rise to the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty is now probably disproved. The lower part of the tower is Norman; the upper parts were rebuilt in 1729 and the top in 1911.[14] The rest of the church was rebuilt in 1872 to designs by Arthur Blomfield.[14] Philip Morant, the Essex historian, was Rector 1737–70.[15] There was a further major rebuild in 1872.[16]

In 1978 the parish was united with Christ Church in a new building in Ireton Road.[15] The old church was made redundant; the bell was moved to St Leonard's in Lexden and the organ to Brentwood Cathedral.[17] In 1980 the building was reopened as Colchester Arts Centre.[18]

St Nicholas's Church, Colchester, with its magnificent spire, both sadly demolished in 1955

St Nicholas

Colchester Co-operative Society
built a department store ("St Nicholas House") on the site. The building has retail at the ground floor and permission for residential development on the upper floors.

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, in the 1860s. The church graveyard is in West Stockwell Street, behind Colchester Town Hall.

St Peter's

St Peter's on North Hill

In origin a Medieval church, St Peter's is on North Hill and largely consists of later Georgian material due to a major remodelling in 1758, but the building retains mediaeval fabric and underwent a further remodelling in 1895–96.[19][20] During the Medieval period the church yard contained a large stone cross from which gospels were read during the Palm Sunday procession.[13] The churchyard also contained a large marker stone on its northern side into the 1500s.[13] The Medieval church also contained a large rood screen with a rood loft.[13] The bells are rung every Thursday. Details of its history are available at the church.

St Leonard's-at-the-Hythe

Main article: Church of St Leonard at the Hythe, Colchester

St Leonard's-at-the-Hythe is a large medieval church at Colchester's Hythe river port.

firing loops for muskets.[22] The church is now redundant, and is cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust
.

Georgian churches

Baptist Church

The Baptist Church at Eld Lane

In Eld Lane, built in 1834[12] on the site of Colchester's first purpose-built Baptist chapel of 1711.[23][24]

Strict Baptist Chapel

Formerly in Stanwell Street, demolished in 1971 to make way for Colchester's Inner Ring Road.[24] The chapel was built in 1811 or 1812 for a new congregation, some of whom had seceded from the Baptists in Eld Lane.[24] Colchester Elim Pentecostal Church (see below) used the chapel 1957–71.[24]

Congregational Chapel

This red-brick chapel in East Stockwell Street was built in 1816–17.

Congregational minister Rev. Joseph Herrick, who was expelled from his previous meeting house in St Helen's Lane by the Unitarians in the congregation.[25] It was refronted in 1834 with a pediment and Tuscan columns.[12] After Herrick's death, his successor, Rev. Thomas Batty (father of Colchester artist Dora Batty),[26] added new schoolrooms in 1868 and remodelled the chapel in 1875.[25] It has been a Grade II-listed building since 1971.[27]

Quaker Meeting House

A Grade II listed building in Church Street dating from 1803.[28]

Victorian churches

All Saints, Shrub End

The parish church of Shrub End; formerly part of

MapRef
TL 970232. A more detailed look at the church can be found on the church's website on www.shrubendparish.co.uk

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

incendiary bombs
.

Garrison Church

Built in Military Road in 1855 to hold services for soldiers going to the Crimean War, this large Grade II* listed timber church has space for a congregation of 500. It is now the Russian Orthodox Church.[28] of St. John the Wonderworker.

St James the Less

This

JJ Scoles, built in 1837 and enlarged in 1909–10.[10] It is a Norman revival building with an apsidal chancel.[10]

St John the Evangelist

[30] The Church of St John the Evangelist Colchester was built in 1863 by Arthur Blomfield in the Decorated style. It is principally of red brick with yellow and blue brick and stone window tracery. It consists of a chancel and nave surmounted by a small bellcot at the west end. The chancel and its fittings and part of the nave were built with money collected in memory of J.T. Round. It has a boarded and tiled roof. In the late 1960s and into the 1970s, the modern housing estate of St John's was built and a further estate of Highwoods was developed in the 1980s. From 1980 under the leadership of Rev Brian Nicholson, the numbers of the congregation steadily grew. Mainly through the generous giving from the church family, the church was significantly extended in 1987. Following continuing growth in church membership, St Luke's was planted, meeting weekly in the community centre on Highwoods. In 2012 the church undertook a million pound plus building project, replacing the old pre-fab church hall with a new multi purpose Community Centre.

United Reformed Church

The United Reformed Church, Lion Walk, Colchester (panorama)

In Lion Walk, this Gothic Revival church was designed in a Geometrical Decorated Gothic style and built in 1863[12] for a Congregational community that had been meeting in Colchester since the 17th century.[31] The 1884 Colchester earthquake damaged its steeple.[12] The church became part of the new United Reformed Church in 1972.[31]

Modern churches

St Barnabas' Church, Old Heath

Main article: Old Heath

Built on the site of a Victorian church, St Barnabas was built in 1949 to replace the original church which was in a state of disrepair. A small and friendly church, it has various services and masses during the week including a Parish Sung Mass on a Sunday Morning at 10am.

Castle Methodist Church

In Maidenburgh Street next to Colchester Castle, this 20th-century building was opened in 1970 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.[32]

Colchester New Church

Colchester New Church

Colchester New Church at 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.[33]

Elim Pentecostal Church

Colchester's Elim Pentecostal congregation formed in 1930.[24] A temporary tabernacle was built in Fairfax Road in 1931 and served until 1957, when the congregation moved to the former Strict Baptist Chapel in Stanwell Street (see above).[24] When that chapel was demolished in 1971 to make way for a new road, the congregation had a new church built in Walsingham Road.[24] The congregation now meets in a newer building on Clematis Way.[34]

Greenstead Evangelical Free Church

Greenstead Evangelical Free Church is on Magnolia Drive on the Greenstead estate. It was built in 1963, making it almost as old as the estate itself. It is affiliated with the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches.[35]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Churches in Colchester.
  1. ^ Crummy, Nina; Crummy, Philip; Crossan, Carl. Excavations of Roman and later cemeteries, churches and monastic sites in Colchester, 1971-88 (PDF). Colchester Archaeological Report. Vol. 9. Colchester Archaeological Trust. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  2. ^ "Roman Church". East of England Tourist Board. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  3. ^ "St Helens Chapel". Unlocking Essex. Retrieved 16 April 2010.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "Orthodox Parish of St Helen of Colchester". Orthodox Colchester. Archived from the original on 18 April 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  5. ^ Pevsner & Radcliffe 1965, p. 132.
  6. ^ a b Pevsner & Radcliffe 1965, p. 136
  7. ^ a b Cooper, Janet; Elrington, CR; Baggs, AP; Board, Beryl; Crummy, Philip; Dove, Claude; Durgan, Shirley; Goose, NR; Pugh, RB; et al. (1994). "Colchester: Churches". A History of the County of Essex: Volume 9: The Borough of Colchester. Victoria County History. London. pp. 309–336.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ^ Pevsner & Radcliffe 1965, pp. 132–133.
  9. ^ "St John's Abbey explored". The Colchester Archaeologist. 15. Colchester Archaeological Trust: 23–27. 2002.
  10. ^ a b c d Pevsner & Radcliffe 1965, p. 133
  11. ^ "St James the Great, Colchester". WordPress.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Pevsner & Radcliffe 1965, p. 137
  13. ^
    ISBN 978-1-85983-686-6
    )
  14. ^ a b c Pevsner & Radcliffe 1965, p. 134
  15. ^ a b "Seax – Christ Church with St Mary-at-the-Walls". Seax. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  16. ^ "A Watching Brief at St Mary's Arts Centre" (PDF). Colchester Archaeological Trust. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  17. ^ Waddy, Karen. "St Mary at the Walls Timeline". Ancestry.com. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011.
  18. ^ Colchester Arts Centre
  19. ^ a b c d Pevsner & Radcliffe 1965, p. 135
  20. ^ "Saint Peter's Church history page". 2013.
  21. ^ "Medieval Colchester: Townspeople | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  22. ISBN 1-897719-09-4
    )
  23. ^ "Church history". Colchester Baptist Church. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012.
  24. ^ a b c d e f g Cooper, Janet; Elrington, CR; Baggs, AP; Board, Beryl; Crummy, Philip; Dove, Claude; Durgan, Shirley; Goose, NR; Pugh, RB; et al. (1994). "Colchester: Protestant Nonconformity". A History of the County of Essex: Volume 9: The Borough of Colchester. Victoria County History. London. pp. 339–351.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  25. ^ a b "The Borough of Colchester: Protestant nonconformity". A History of the County of Essex. 9. Victoria County History. 1994 – via British History Online.
  26. ^ "Funeral of Rev. T. Batty, of Colchester". Essex Evening Star and Daily Herald. Ipswich, Suffolk. 19 June 1909. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  27. ^ Historic England. "Stockwell Congregational Chapel (Grade II) (1123632)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  28. ^ a b [1] Archived September 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  29. ^ Saint James the Less and Saint Helen
  30. ^ "St. John's Colchester : Our History". Archived from the original on 1 February 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  31. ^ a b "Our History". Lion Reformed Church. Archived from the original on 10 October 2002. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  32. ^ "Castle Methodist Church Colchester". Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  33. ^ "The Smallest School". Colchester Gazette. 9 July 1968. p. 1.
  34. ^ Elim Colchester
  35. ^ Greenstead Evangelical Free Church

Sources

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