The Minories

The house is believed to have been built in the Tudor period. In 1731 it was purchased by the baize manufacturer Isaac Boggis for £420. His son, Thomas Boggis, inherited the house, and employed an architect, probably John Alefounder (1732–1787) to remodel the building, turning parts of it into an elegant Georgian residence. In 1915 Geoffrey Crawford Bensusan-Butt and his wife Dr. Ruth Crawford took over the lease, purchasing the property along with a portion of land that included the Gothic Folly, a summer house built in 1830. Crawford later had three exhibitions of his artwork shown at the Minories in 1962, 1964 and 1975. and was one of the first female GPs in Colchester. She used the…

In 1956 Dr. Ruth, who had survived her husband, sold The Minories along with the garden to the Victor Batte-Lay Trust, named after the art collector who had been a hereditary freeman of the town. The Minories was sold on the strict condition that it would continue to be used for artistic purposes. The Minories, run by the Trust as The Minories Art Gallery, presented work by Edward Bawden, Leon Underwood, Eric Ravilious, Frederick Hans Haagensen, Harry Becker, John Bratby, John and Paul Nash, Lucien Pissarro, Cedric Morris, Christopher Wood, Bill Brandt, Maggi Hambling, Jacob Epstein and Mark Wallinger. By the early 1990s the Trust's resources were significantly reduced, and the gallery…

In early 2008 Firstsite left The Minories and moved into Crouch Street while their new building was developed, and in June 2008 Colchester Institute took on the lease for the Minories. The site then became home to The Minories Galleries, a contemporary art gallery run by Colchester School of Art which is open to the public and houses the Colchester School of Art's Postgraduate programmes and a café surrounded by a walled garden. The Minories is next door to Firstsite, Colchester's contemporary art space, in the centre of St Botolph's Quarter. Abram Games, Romek Marber, Noel Myles, Keith Albarn (father of Blur frontman Damon) and Chris Meigh-Andrews. In October 2015, the cafe and tearoom in…