fantastic fragments of St John’s abbey

On Friday last week (7th March), Trust archaeologist Don Shimmin was conducting a watching brief on a site near St John’s abbey gateway in Colchester. The trenching exposed some remarkable evidence relating to the abbey, including the medieval foundations of part of the abbey precinct wall, parts of two building foundations, and a large quantity of fragments of medieval worked stone from a small earth mound. The evidence is so interesting that Trust director Philip went to have a look. The site is within the walled precinct of St John’s abbey and was later used as the garden of a private house, so it has some 19th-century and later garden elements (ie the mound, some granite setts, and an unusual garden seat). We conducted an evaluation here in 2007 and missed this new evidence, although we had previously found part of a post-Dissolution wall foundation here (to the west of the gateway).

The two foundations exposed in the side of the trench look as though they are medieval/early Norman, or even pre-Norman Conquest, in date. One foundation looks similar to the foundations of the priest Sigric’s church which the Trust excavated near what is now Southway in the early 1970s, not far from the gateway, and also to the foundations of St Mary Magdalen church, which the Trust investigated about 25 years ago. The two foundations here may represent two buildings or two phases of one building, very close to or against the precinct wall. It is difficult to date the two foundations with any certainty and there are no surviving floors here to help with the dating. However, they appear to be part of the remains of an early building or buildings of St John’s abbey.

The worked stone fragments are very interesting. They are finely worked and include sandstone and limestone which must have been imported into Essex. The worked stone fragments derive from St John’s abbey. The 19th-century or later garden seat was actually constructed of a four-foot-long section of medieval stone guttering on two stone blocks (possibly window fragments). Don also found four separate sections of stone guttering which, when combined, are  over eight feet long. The stone includes patterned elements and fragments which look like sections from columns, and some of these seem to have been monumental – they might even derive from the abbey church. Some of the fragments show chisel-marks from when they were shaped by stonemasons. (Don also says that the fragments are very heavy!)

St John’s abbey gatehouse was built circa 1400 and it is Grade 1 listed. It is one of the only two elements of the abbey which survive above ground; the other is parts of the precinct wall. The abbey of St John the Baptist was a Benedictine monastery and it was built from AD 1096. It was built by Eudo Dapifer, an important Norman officer of William the Conqueror; Eudo also built Colchester castle. He was buried in St John’s abbey chapter house in 1120. St John’s abbey was an important monastic foundation, and it would have been an imposing sight, with its group of large, decorated stone buildings set within the enclosing precinct wall. It was Dissolved in 1539 and became a private residence, passing through the ownership of several families until it was damaged during the Siege of Colchester in 1648. It was demolished after the Siege. The abbey precinct and Abbey Farm were bought by the Army in 1860 for the building of Colchester garrison, and the Army has only recently sold some of the garrison site for re-development. In the past few years, the Trust has undertaken investigations on the site of the Officers’ Club, ahead of its rebuilding, and we have uncovered important new evidence of the abbey, including the site of the abbey church (to the east of the gateway).

For more information on the history and archaeology of St John’s abbey, see Colchester Archaeological Report 1 and CAT Report 601, both of which are available in our online archive.

The images show St John’s abbey gatehouse; the precinct wall foundation; the two building foundations in the current trench; the garden seat made of medieval stone guttering; and various fragments of worked stone. [Image to follow.]

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