Colchester Abbey

Heritage listing

Details The monument includes the buried and visible remains of the Benedictine Abbey of St John which is located on the southern outskirts of Colchester town centre, largely within the grounds of the Garrison Officers' Club. Also included in the scheduling are the buried remains of a small pre-Conquest church which preceded the foundation of the monastery, and part of one of the extensive extra-mural cemeteries associated with the Roman town and later subsumed within the area of the monastic precinct. In addition, the monument includes the buried remains of a 17th century house established after the Dissolution of the abbey and the remains of its associated formal gardens, some of whose terraces are still visible within the Club grounds. The Roman cemetery was discovered in 1972 prior to the construction of the St Botolph's Circus. The excavation uncovered 34 inhumations on the south west side of the present roundabout (in the north eastern corner of the later precinct) which were dated from coin evidence, pottery and other grave goods to the period around AD 270. Although these burials were removed, the cemetery to which they belong is thought to extend further south within the area of the former monastic precinct. Documentary sources indicate that a parish church, founded by a priest named Sigeric, stood on the hillside to the south of the town prior to the Norman Conquest. A small structure was partly uncovered during the 1972 excavations in the area. This area has since been landscaped to form the steep verge on the south side of St Botolph's Circus. The building, which had rubble foundations and reused Roman masonry incorporated in the lower course of the walls, is considered to be Sigeric's Church of St John the Evangelist. The excavations revealed a narrow struc

From the Historic England List Entry under OGL v3.