10th February 1115: the dedication of St John’s abbey

St John’s abbey in Colchester was dedicated 900 years ago today (10th February 2015). The abbey was a Benedictine monastery dedicated to St John the Baptist, and it was founded by Eudo de Rie. St John’s abbey was an important part of the medieval town of Colchester, and it must also have been an important foundation in England. Snape priory and Writtle hermitage were attached to the abbey, and its many possessions included a large number of manors and churches, in Essex and beyond.* It was granted the same liberties as Westminster Abbey in London. The abbots of Colchester were mitred and held a seat in Parliament. The founder of St John’s abbey, Eudo, was a Norman of great influence. The abbey also received some important visitors over the years: king Richard III, the first Duke of Norfolk, king Henry VII, and queen Catherine (of Aragon). St John’s abbey was an important establishment and it had a long and chequered history. Now, only a few remains of the abbey survive, overlooking St John’s Green and the town centre – the rebuilt gatehouse, two walls of a porter’s lodge, St Giles’ church, the area of the precinct and part of the precinct wall, and some loose architectural stone fragments…

Eudo de Rie (1063-1120) was a very important Norman, from Rie near Bayeux in Normandy. He was one of William the Conqueror’s main supporters and he was appointed high steward (‘dapifer’) of his household. Eudo and his three brothers were all important landowners in England after the Conquest: Eudo held 25 lordships in Essex, 7 in Hertfordshire, 10 in Suffolk, 9 in Norfolk, 12 in Bedfordshire, and one in Berkshire. He attended William the Conqueror (king William I) on his deathbed in 1087 and ensured the succession of his son William Rufus as king of England (William II). Eudo served three Norman kings of England, altogether: William the Conqueror, William II and Henry I. Henry I granted the borough of Colchester to Eudo in 1101. Here, in Colchester, Eudo founded the castle, the leper hospital of St Mary Magdalen at Magdalen Street, and St John’s abbey. He died on his estate at Préaux in Normandy, but he was buried in St John’s abbey church. The patronage of the abbey passed to the Crown when he died.

According to the Trust’s Colchester Archaeological Report 1, ‘… The monastery was measured out on 29 August 1095 and dedicated on 10 February 1115…’. Building began in 1096 and, apparently, Eudo himself laid the first stone. In 1133, much of the abbey and part of the town were destroyed by fire. The abbey’s burned buildings were demolished and the material was used to create level ground for a cemetery to the north of the abbey church. The abbey buildings were rebuilt. St Giles’ church was built in the cemetery at some time between 1133 and 1171. The Peasants’ Revolt in 1381 was followed by the reinforcing of the abbey’s defences.

The abbey was, apparently, so wealthy and important a foundation that it could even get involved in affairs of state, and not just in the affairs of Colchester. In 1404, the abbot was charged with involvement in a conspiracy to dethrone king Henry IV and replace him with the deposed king Richard II. The abbey also got involved in the Wars of the Roses, in the 1460s, as it had a close connection with the first Duke of Norfolk, who was a supporter of Richard III. After the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, which was a victory for Henry Tudor (king Henry VII) over king Richard III, the abbey gave sanctuary to some of Richard III’s supporters including, perhaps, the Duke of York. Richard III’s mother left money to the abbey in her will. The Tudor kings Henry VII and Henry VIII were not keen on the abbey. When Henry VIII began to ‘dissolve’ the monasteries of England in 1536, St John’s abbey was at risk. It survived the first phase of dissolutions but it was dissolved in 1539, after the trial and then execution of its last abbot, Thomas Beche, in Colchester. The abbey’s possessions passed to the king and the abbey itself became a private residence. During the Siege of Colchester in 1648, most of the abbey buildings were destroyed, St Giles’ church was damaged and the abbey gatehouse was wrecked. Prisoners-of-war were held on the abbey site in the 1660s, and the remains of the abbey house seem to have disappeared by 1748. The abbey precinct became the ‘Abbey gardens’ and was used as a plant nursery. It was bought by the War Office and became part of Colchester garrison in 1860. The Trust’s building, Roman Circus House, was also part of the garrison and the abbey precinct is just round the corner from us.

The Trust has been conducting archaeological investigations on the site of St John’s abbey since 1972, and we have produced quite a lot of evidence of the abbey and its history. Most significantly, during a watching brief in the grounds of the Officers’ Club in 2011, we identified the site of the abbey church itself. We have also found evidence of, perhaps, the earliest days of the abbey, in the medieval lime pits which we uncovered on the site in 1973, 2007 and  2014. Lime pits were used to make mortar to build or maintain buildings. We know that the abbey’s builders re-used Roman building materials from the town to build the abbey, and that the abbey’s building materials were removed in turn and re-used in other buildings back in the town. So, perhaps, the long and chequered history of the abbey has not ended up in a few standing remains but, in an appropriate circle, it survives in fragments which have been redistributed in later structures around Colchester…

Read more about St John’s abbey in Colchester Archaeological Report 1 and our discovery of the site of the abbey church in CAT Report 601: all the Trust’s fieldwork reports are published online at http://cat.essex.ac.uk/ .

The image shows the surviving St John’s abbey gatehouse at St John’s Green.

————————————————————

* St John’s abbey had many possessions. The manors of Weeley and Pitsea, an annual four-day long fair at the feast of St John at Colchester, and the churches of Leatherhead in Surrey and St Mary Woolchurch in London were granted to the abbey by Eudo himself. A charter of king William II confirmed Eudo’s grants to the abbey, including the manors of Brightlingsea, Weeley and Hallingbury, and the church of Lillechurch (later exchanged for land in East Donyland). Eudo may have granted the manor of Brightlingsea to the abbey on his deathbed, and his widow granted Hallingbury to the abbey after his death. Other gifts and grants were made to the abbey by royal charters, by wealthy individuals and, even, by bishops and popes! The abbey’s possessions also included rights and liberties, and the manor of Mundon, the church of Barkway in Hertfordshire, St Helen’s chapel in Colchester, the manor and church of Wickham Skeith in Suffolk, the manor and church of Greensted, the manor and advowson (the right to appoint the priest) of Little Bardfield church, and the churches or advowsons of Ardleigh, Boxted, Berechurch, Brightlingsea, East Donyland, Mundon, Pitsea, Takeley, Weeley, St Stephen Walbrook in London, Walkern in Hertfordshire, Hamerton in Huntingdonshire, Aldeburgh and Hemingstone in Suffolk, St George in Norwich and, in Colchester, the churches of St Giles’, St Leonard’s, St Nicholas’ and Holy Trinity (from the Victoria County History of Essex: Colchester).

.