Five religious houses ruined in Tudor Colchester

 Perhaps the most spectacular ruins in Colchester are those of St Botolph's Priory. They are familiar to many who walk to and from Colchester Town railway station or the car park on the site of the former Britannia works. Adam from Colchester YAC writes:-

"Saint Botolph's Priory. Founded in 1093. Re-founded 1100. Dissolved 1536. Order Augustinian.

Crutched Friars. Founded in 1230 by William de Lanvelli. Re-founded in 1496. Dissolved in 1538. Order:unknown.

Greyfriars. Founded in 1237. Dissolved in 1538. Order Franciscan."

Greyfriars was the only religious house to be founded within the walled town. Its site is now occupied by a hotel. A wall from the friary and statue niche can be seen in an adjacent car park and the repaired and rebuilt wall of the former friary runs along the east boundary of Castle Park down to the Roman origin wall.

The Priory Church of St Botolph's remained to serve as a parish church, but was finally ruined during the Siege of Colchester (1648).

There is nothing left of Crutched Friars, although it gave its name to Crouch Street. Archaeologists identified the site of the church recently before it was redeveloped.

The boundary wall of St John's Abbey exists in part on the west side, the south side, the north side and most notably, where it is buttressed, on the east side along Mersea Road. Much of the stone work used by medieval craftsmen to build the wall came from the Roman circus. Abbey Field, parkland to the south of the former St John's Abbey, takes its name from St John's Abbey.

The church of the St Mary Magdalen religious foundation and leper hospital, in Magdalen Street, survived until relatively recently, when it was demolished and redeveloped for housing.