74 High Street

74 High Street – ‘The Minories’
On the 19th March 1790, baymaker Thomas Boggis signed his will; he died in 1790 and his house, The Minories, was passed to his brother Isaac Boggis.
The Minories is a fantastic late 18th-century, Grade II* listed building with earlier elements. It was originally an early 16th-century timber-framed building which was remodelled from 1776 by Thomas Boggis.
The listing reads: ‘… There are modern extensions at the rear. The main block has a red brick front with coping, 2 hipped gables behind the coping, the roofs tiled, 3 storeys, 5-window range of double-hung sashes with glazing bars, central 2-storeyed bay window above the central Doric porch; modillioned cornice below 3rd storey, band between ground and 1st floors, arched doorway with semi-circular fanlight, 6-panel door. The garden elevation is of red brick with plastered parapet, moulded brick cornice, 3-window range to the upper storey (central window Venetian) [and] 5 to the ground floor, band, brick quoins at the angles. The rear wing has been much altered externally, the roof is hipped on the south. The interior of this wing has a staircase of circa 1600 with carved square newels. The interior of the main block has contemporary work (exposed moulded ceiling beams) and many late C18 features, particularly a good open-string staircase of circa 1774. There are C16 brick cellars with a number of arched recesses …’
Isaac Boggis, baymaker of Colchester, bought the house from merchant Robert Havens of London in 1731. In 1737 he married Elizabeth Truston of Suffolk, and they had three sons: Thomas Boggis, Isaac Boggis and James Boggis. In 1751, Isaac Boggis bought tenements and gardens to the east of the house and these were later used as a counting-house and warehouses. Isaac Boggis’ friends included Charles Gray esq. of Hollytrees and George Wegg esq. of East Hill House, who were both eminent and wealthy townsmen and also neighbours. Isaac Boggis died in 1762 and his son Thomas Boggis, baymaker, inherited the property.
In 1763 Thomas married Frances Hills, the daughter of baymaker and merchant Michael Hills who lived nearby. Frances lived in London and died there in 1775, and Thomas Boggis then remodelled his house in the most fashionable way, using the great wealth which he amassed from the labour and poverty of the cloth-workers of the town.
Thomas Boggis was mayor of Colchester in 1776 and 1780. He was also a Freemason; he was master of the Angel lodge in Colchester in 1770, the deputy provincial grand master of Essex in 1777, and the master of the new Lodge of Unity in 1779. His parish church was All Saints’, opposite the Castle.
The Minories is almost opposite Grey Friars, a house which was built on the site of the town’s Franciscan friary. The ‘minoresses’ were nuns who were attached to the Franciscan or Grey friars, so perhaps The Minories derives its name from a previous building on the site, or the original building here, which was occupied by some minoresses.
A copy of the will of Thomas Boggis esq., dated 19th March 1790, and the deeds of 37 East Hill, are held by the Essex Record Office in Chelmsford (ERO T/B 294/2).
A copy of the will of Isaac Boggis, dated 4th April 1799, and the deeds of 37 East Hill, is held by the Essex Record Office (ERO T/B 294/3). The Essex Record Office also holds a letter book of Thomas Boggis and receipts (1778-80) which he signed as treasurer of the Charity Schools of Colchester.
The Minories now houses a department of Colchester Institute’s art school. It is owned by the Victor Batte-Lay Trust and home of the Trust’s art collection; see www.vbltcollection.org.uk
Nos 36-37 East Hill is also a Grade II listed building.
During the early 20th century, the house belonged to Dr Ruth Bensusan-Butt, a doctor who specialised in women’s and children’s health; she was a women’s suffragist, Fabian socialist, and Colchester town councillor. Her son, local historian and author John Bensusan-Butt, also lived here; he wrote ‘The house that Boggis built’, a booklet about the history of The Minories.
‘The Minories’ now includes the adjacent building, and The Minories and its garden are open to the public; there is a cafe in the service wing to the rear.
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