The Colchester Archaeologist 2002 - Colchester Archaeological Trust

E St John's church,
demolished 1095;
excavated in 1972
G Wall found
in 1986
12th-century
precinct wall,
masked here
by modern
buttresses
Detail of Speed's map of Colchester published in
I610.
The Siege map of 1648 appears to show a gate
flanked by two towers on the south side of the
abbey. The exact location of the gate may be
where a 19th-century path through the gardens
crossed the line of the precinct wall. The path
led southwards from the St John's Abbey gate,
and it could conceivably have survived from the
medieval period.
Above: detail from the Siege map of 1648 showing
the Royalist forces holding the former precinct of
St John's Abbey. Whoever compiled the Siege map
took Speed's map as its core and added in enough
detail around the edges to show surrounding Parliamentarian
siege works. The added material includes
the apparent gate on the south side of the
precinct, and what appears to be a more accurate
drawing of the east end of the abbey church.
continued on
pages 26-27
Left: St John's Abbey
church. Compare with
the apparent remains of
the abbey church shown
in the 1610 and 1648
maps above.
A The precinct wall. Archaeological excavations
in 1971 in the north-east corner of the
precinct showed that the precinct wall was
early and probably built between 1096 and
1133. It was refaced in the 16th century and
has been patched and repaired at various
places around its circuit throughout the
centuries. The precinct wall in Mersea Road
(right, in 2001) is dominated by modern
brick buttresses, but its core is Norman. On
the west side of the precinct, the wall has
been much altered, and includes parts of
16th- or 17th-century window openings.
These show that the wall was incorporated in
post-Dissolution buildings erected along the
west side of the precinct.
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