Posted below is the information to accompany the Looking Up At Colchester page which came with the December 2024 Newsletter.

If you wish to view the Looking Up At Colchester page then follow this link   20240724-LOOKING-UP-AT-COLCHESTER-__-revision-4-1.pdf 

Looking Up: information on places

(Please note that the accuracy of the information contained here is currently being checked and may be revised)

1. Site of the Roman and later North Gate, North Hill

Originally a Roman gate built as part of the town wall circuit in late 1st century AD. From Speed’s 1610 map it appears as if the gate was rebuilt in the Medieval period as it is shown with a square headed gateway. The top of North Gate was taken off in 1774, but the sides were incorporated into the adjoining houses, which were not demolished until 1823.

2. Marquis of Granby Inn, North Hill

An important early C16 building (circa 1520) with exceptionally fine carved detail. Built as a high-status house, it has been an inn for much of its history. Much of the building – the façade in particular – was extensively restored in 1914, as it had been heavily Georgianised.

3. North Hill Hotel

The North Hill Hotel and Green Room occupies a C19 brick building with a C15 cottage and barn to the rear.

4. Fire insurance mark, North Hill

These little metal signs on older buildings, known as firemarks, served a practical role in the early days of fire insurance. At that time there was no fire service as we know it – insurance companies maintained their own fire engines, which would only attend buildings insured with them. Colchester had no pressurised water supply until the C19, and the risk of fire was a major concern.

5. St. Peter’s Church, North Hill

St Peter’s Church was probably an Anglo-Saxon foundation, but was substantially rebuilt at least twice, with further major alterations in the Georgian period. The fine clock was added to the tower in 1866.

6. Former Boots The Chemist store High Street / Head Street corner

Built in 1935 as part of the company’s expansion in the interwar period, this was main Boots store in the town until it moved to Lion Walk in 1975. The pharmacy, cosmetics and toiletries counters were on the ground floor whilst much of the first floor housed the local branch of the Boot’s Book Lovers Lending Library, which sadly closed in 1966.

7. Fire Office, High Street

The Essex and Suffolk Fire Office occupied an early C19 Corn exchange in neo-classical style by David Laing. The third story was added later.

8. Bank Building, High Street, south side

Originally the Provincial Bank and now a Waterstone’s bookshop, this building has a frontage admired by Pevsner in his Essex guide – describing it as a “fine example of 1920’s bank architecture”.

9. High Street, south side

Shop and offices. Circa 1870 with late C20 shopfront. Brick with stucco dressings. Roof behind parapet. Shop on ground floor and possibly on floor above, with offices above. High Victorian Venetian style.

10. High Street, south side

Commercial building (originally Capital Counties Bank) by Baker; May, 1901. 20th century shopfront on ground floor. Two upper storeys faced in stone.

11. Fenwick’s Department Store, High Street

One of two sculptures by Sean Henry that have been permanently installed on Colchester High Street. Standing near the Town Hall and Fenwick’s new deapartment store, Man with Cup is located on a ledge 4m above ground, while the 7ft high Walking Woman is at ground level, striding west along the line of the High Street.

12. Lloyds Bank, High Street south side

Commercial building built for Lloyds Bank in stripped ‘Wrenaissance’ style in  1926. A good example of bank architecture of its date, designed to create an impression of stability and tradition. H. Munro Cautley (architect), W.H. Ross (builder).

13. NatWest Bank, High Street south side

Commercial building (now NatWest bank) by W. Campbell Jones, c. 1904. Edwardian Free Style with richly coloured bands of dark stone.  The ground floor has probably been altered. A highly unusual building by a successful London architect.  The design was exhibited at the Royal Academy, London, and published in Academy Architecture, vol 25 (1904)

14. Town Hall, High Street, tower

Colchester’s Grade I listed Town Hall is of 1898, designed by John Belcher. Exceptionally rich design in free classical style: red brick and Portland stone. The Victoria tower, on return, rises to a height of 162 ft topped by a statue of St Helena.

15. Town Hall, High Street, statue of St Helen (or Helena)

Flavia Helena Augusta was the wife of Constantius Chlorus and mother of Constantine the Great. Canonised after her death, she became patron saint of Colchester (where local legend claimed, inaccurately, that she was born), as well as archaeologists. The statue was sourced in Italy and adapted from an “off the peg” statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. St Helen is holding the True Cross, which she miraculously discovered during her pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and is facing toward Jerusalem.

16. The former Public Library, West Stockwell Street

Colchester’s first public library was built to the designs of Brightwen Binyon and opened in 1894. It has an elaborate and well composed neo-Jacobean façade displaying, through its fine materials and craftsmanship. the civic pride of the town.

17. 33-35 High Street, south side

Retail premises, with partial re-fronting, of about 1870, of an earlier building, perhaps timber-framed and of mediaeval date. It retains part of an earlier Georgian re-fronting and a peg-tile roof which may be earlier still.  It has two storeys, the upper with two four-light oriels. These have small pitched roofs and attached columns at the corners, on which perch gryphons.  Winged creatures also embellish the rainwater heads.  The parapet has shaped gables of unusual form.

Nos 34 & 35 were the premises of R Parsons, Draper, Silk Mercer, etc, in 1888-1890: ‘The principal establishment of Mr. Parsons is a handsome structure, having a large frontage, and three fine windows, one of which is reserved for the display of stationery, English and Continental fancy goods, etc. … The others contain a lavish display of silks,satins, dress fabrics, etc. … The shop is upwards of a hundred and twenty feet in length …’

18. Former Hippodrome, High Street, north side

The Hippodrome Theatre was built in 1905 by local architect J. W. Start. Originally called the Grand Theatre of Varieties, it opened on the evening of Monday April 24th 1905. The Theatre was built on the site of the old Lamb Inn which was demolished in 1903.

19. Red Lion Hotel, High Street

An important and richly ornamented example of late C15 and early C16 work. The original building was constructed for John Howard, later Duke of Norfolk, circa 1470, as a town house. Shortly after 1500 the house was turned into an inn, which it has remained ever since. There are cellars of c.1400, predating the present building.

20. The George Hotel, High Street

The present building, though externally heavily Georgianised, was originally C15 and retains much mediaeval work. There are cellars predating the present building, thought to be of the late C14.

21. Former Lamb Public House, High Street

This pub was established in the mid-eighteenth century and rebuilt in its present form and location in 1905. It remained as the Lamb until 1971 when it was renamed the Bay & Say. It has again been renamed the After Office Hours.

22. Holy Trinity Church, Trinity Street, Saxon Tower

The most notable feature is the late Saxon west tower, probably built mid C11, largely in Roman brick. It is substantially intact and unaltered. This tower was built on to an earlier Church of circa 1000, of which only the west wall remains. The rest of the building is largely C14 and C15, much restored in 1886.

23. Holy Trinity Church, Trinity Street, weathervane

The weathervane depicts a locust. The locust is thought to be a reference to St John the Baptist who is associated with locusts and wild honey as part of his diet, linking back to his story in the Bible.

24. Lion Walk United Reformed Church, Lion Walk

The tower is all that remains of the Congregational church of 1863 by Frederick Barnes of Ipswich. The spire had to be rebuilt after damage in the 1884 earthquake. Random stone; in the Decorated Gothic style. The rest of the church was rebuilt in modern style.

25. Three Wise Monkeys Tap and Smoke House, High Street

Built 1890. Originally Parr’s Bank, probably by J.F. Goodey. Red brick, in the Queen Anne Revival style.

26. Former Co-op building, St Nicholas Square

Shop for the Co-Operative Society, c.1914, by Goodey & Cressall. Brick with stone dressings. Upper storey divided by pilasters with a central oriel beneath a shaped gable set in a straight gable. The wheatsheaf on the façade is a popular emblem of the Co-operative Movement, as ‘a stalk of corn cannot stand alone, but many stand together’

27. The Castle Inn, High Street

The present building is C18, but greatly altered.

28. Plaque to two Colchester clockmakers

Colchester had a number of high quality clockmakers in the late C17, in this case Jeremy Spurgin and John Smorthwaite. The Colchester Museums have a large collection of clocks made by local clraftsmen.

29. All Saints Rectory, High Street

The first record of the Rectory dates to 1610. It was repaired by Francis Powell, the Rector, in 1720 but was too small for his family. A later Rector. John Abbot, made improvements to the building in 1759, but, in 1858 the decision was made to build a new Rectory. Designed by H Hayward, the house was the home of incumbents until 1953. Later, the building became the High Street Post Office and is now an NHS Clinic.

30. Former All Saints Church, High Street

Formerly church of All Saints, now the Natural History Museum. Late C12 nave, C14 chancel, good C16 west tower with knapped flint work. Restored mid C19, though only the High Street frontage was refaced.

31. The War Memorial, Cowdray Crescent

The war memorial was designed by Henry Charles Fehr in 1919, but was merely the most obvious feature of the wider war memorial, which incorporates Cowdray Crescent, Holly Trees and the surrounding area.

32. Charles Gray’s Summer House, Castle Park

The summer house built by Charles Gray in 1731 in the form of a miniature tetrastyle Greek temple with interior decorated with plaster medallions.

33. Queen Street window detail

Late C18 house, but C19 treatment of this window.

34. Georgian and later house, west side St Botolph’s Street
35. Town wall and mediaeval bastion no. 5, Priory Street

In medieval times the Roman walls were extensively rebuilt and several bastions added at the time of Richard II, (1377-99), of which this is one. The arched window dates from the C18, when it was turned into a garden house, which is shown in an old watercolour with a thatched roof.

36. Vaulting of St John’s Abbey Gatehouse, Abbeygate

St John’s Abbey Gatehouse is Grade I listed. It is the only surviving building of the Abbey of St John the Baptist, a Benedictine foundation suppressed in 1539. The gatehouse was built in the later C15 and was restored in the C19 after suffering extensive damage during the 1648 siege. Parts of the precinct wall also survive.

37. View toward Jumbo water tower from St John’s Street

The Balkerne Water Tower was built in the highest area of the town in 1882 and provided Colchester’s first pressurised water supply. It is visible here with old buildings in the foreground and the 1970s Culver Street and Lion Walk shopping centres in the middle distance.

38. St John’s Street houses with added shop fronts

Most of the early C19 houses in this street have acquired later shop fronts.

39. St John’s Street, original crane and loading door

Before becoming retail and, later, restaurant premises, the building was a warehouse built in the 19th century. The Roman Wall runs through the building.

40. Arthur Askey Plaque St John’s Street

Liverpool comedian Arthur Askey made his professional debut at the Headgate Electric Theatre, in St John’s Street, Colchester, 100 years ago, on March 31, 1924. The Electric theatre opened in 1910 in the former Liberal Club Lecture Hall in Headgate.

41. Sir Isaac Rebow plaque, Head Street, east side

This house is located, just inside the Head Gate entrance to the town, and was an important residence in 17 & 18^th centuries.

42. Head Street.

A 1930s building of red brick with a central bay made from cast cement blocks, a most unusual design for Colchester. Originally occupied by the Colchester (and then Eastern) Gas Office and Showroom on the right (northern) side and Luckin Smiths on the left. Luckin Smiths sold china, glassware, cooking utensils, garden tools and general hardware.

43. Dr Barnardo’s Building, Head Street

An early timber framed C17 house refronted in brick in 1774. In the 1950s, it was the premises of Martin’s Bank.

44. Odeon Cinema, Head Street, west side

Built by George Dobson of Butt Road at the cost of £4140, this was main Post Office in Colchester from 1874 until 1936 when it was partially replaced by a larger building next door. It remained part of the Post Office estate until 1997 when the Post Office moved to the top of the North Hill. The niche in the wall housed a clock until 1934. ‘Under the clock’ was a very well known meeting place for Colcestrians! The Odeon cinema moved here in 2002 from its previous premises in Crouch Street.

45. Culver Street, former gymnasium with plaque to 1st Colchester Scout Group

Geoffrey Elwes, inspired by a sermon at All Saints Church in, decided to do something for the young men of the town. His original Sunday School grew into something far more and in 1905 became the junior section of the St George’s Institute. The Bunting Rooms were built in 1906 by William Bunting to house the newly formed St George’s Gymnasium for the young men of the town. The fully equipped gym was on the ground floor and the upper floor became the accommodation for the St George’s Institute juniors. Within a short period, under the guidance of Geoffrey Elwes, they evolved into the 1st Colchester Boy Scout Troop, one of the first in the world. The Scouts moved to new premises in Essex Street in 1986.

46. The Bull Hotel

The history of the present building is not well understood, but there has been a hostelry of this name on the site since the mediaeval period. The name of the pub is a very popular one, often associated with bull baiting, which may have been conducted on or near the premises.

47. Former wet fish shop, Crouch Street

Formerly a branch of Hearsums, local fishmongers, who had several fish shops in the town. This one belonged to George Hearsum who passed it on to his son, Reginald, when he retired in 1944. The High Street branch, situated between East and West Stockwell St, was owned by another member of the family, Hugh. The shops had open fronts and fish was displayed on a large, sloping, marble slab facing the road.

48. Jumbo water tower from below

Jumbo Water Tower was designed by Charles Clegg, the Borough Surveyor and Engineer, to replace an earlier reservoir on an adjacent site. The tower contains 1.2 million red bricks made by Everett’s at their brickworks in Land Lane, now  part of the Riverside Estate.  Construction took around 20 months and was completed in 1883.

Colchester Civic Society

December 2024