Complete View of the Manners,
Customs, Arms, Habits & Co of the Inhabitants of England, 1774, by Joseph
Strutt.
Essex references
11. St Botolphs, Colchester
Page 102
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| St Botolph's Priory, Colchester |
“[Of the religious Buildings
of the Normans … ] The most antient
Norman building I have met with, is the priory church of St Botolph, at
Colchester in the county of Essex, which noble ruin merits the attention of the
public. The main wall is full 6 feet
thick, faced both within and without with hewn pebbles of a large size; the
immediate space between the facings is filled up with brickbats, tile sheards
and small rough pebbles. The small
arches on the front, over the door way, which intersect each other, (See plate
30, fig 3) are composed of thin small bricks which project about 6 inches from
the main wall. The large arches, as well
of stone, and over that they were faced on all sides with small pamments about
1 foot square, and 2 inches thick, which were all set edgeways. There are several appearances of windows in
the walls, which are very narrow, as was the constant custom of making them at
that time. The arched door-way is very
remarkable on account of its stateliness and grandeur; the neatness and
elegance of the workmanship in shaping and placing the bricks, (of which the
facing is entirely composed) is almost incredible; in short, such in the beauty
and awful appearance of the whole, that the beholder must be struck with
pleasure and surprize, at the sight of this venerable and antient ruin. Entering the church, we see the body which
was very large, divided from two narrow aysles by six noble pillars, raised
with stone and faced at every angle with bricks neatly ornamented. Bricks at this period were held more
ornamental than stone, as may be seen by such pains being taken in this
building to cover the stone with brick facings.
“This priory was built by
Ernulphus, a religious man, about the year 1110, in the reign of Henry the
first, and dedicated to St Botolph and St Julian. Ernulphus was chosen first prior. I may also remark, that particularly in the
great arches, and in the foundation of this priory, are a vast number of Roman
bricks: but this will not be wondered at, when it is known that Colchester was
a Roman station (1). And it is a
strongly disputed point whether it was not the Camalodunum, a great city of the
Romans: though Camden and others place this city at Maldon in the same county.”
References: (1) See Morant
Hist. of Essex and Camden in Essex.
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