Historic Building Recording of the wall to the west of St John's Abbey Gatehouse, Colchester, Essex - June and August 2025

The aim of the building recording was to provide a detailed record and assessment of the wall prior to, during and after remedial works. The building recording was carried out to Level 3 (Historic England 2016). A programme of historic building monitoring and recording was carried out by Colchester Archaeological Trust of the wall to the west of St John's Abbey Gatehouse, Colchester, Essex in June and August 2025. The stretch of wall detailed in this report projects from the western elevation of the Gatehouse, the only surviving building of St John's Abbey. Mostly comprising red brick laid in Header Bond, the wall represents a replacement to the original precinct wall, which was partially demolished in the 1660's as a result of the damaged sustained by the abbey during the Civil War. It was during this period that most of the abbey buildings were also demolished. The wall also incorporates a number of dressed stone blocks, along with some Roman CBM and fragments of septaria, which have evidently been salvaged from the destroyed abbey buildings. A print from 1738 depicts the wall, suggesting a construction date of between the end of the civil war and 1738. During the 1660's, St John's Abbey was used to house prisoners of the Anglo-Dutch Wars, so it seems plausible to suggest the precinct wall was rebuilt during this time to secure the abbey grounds.