COLCHESTER’S FRANCISCAN PRIORY

A RECONSTRUCTION OF THE MEDIEVAL LAYOUT

John Ashdown-Hill

This was the reconstruction of the Greyfriars layout

which I published in

Mediaeval Colchester’s Lost Landmarks.

Now I’d prefer to reconstruct it with the cloister

further to the west

... like this.

Ruins on the site in 1718

This is the only surviving drawing of the ruins of the medieval Priory. But we don’t know which direction the view is from – and this has always been debated – until now!

Ruins on the site in 1718

Of course the label is wrong. It should say ‘Greyfriars’.

Ruins on the site in 1718

The site of the square cloister is fairly clear.

Ruins on the site in 1718

So did the church stand in front of the cloister?

Ruins on the site in 1718

No. Because we can see ruins of other buildings there.

Ruins on the site in 1718

Did the church stand to the right of the cloister?

Ruins on the site in 1718

No. Again we can see ruins of other walls in that area.

Ruins on the site in 1718

WEST END

EAST END

Did the church stand to the left of the cloister?

Ruins on the site in 1718

WEST END

EAST END

N

There are no other buildings in that area – but it would mean that right of the picture is NORTH.

Ruins on the site in 1718

N

But the shadows in the picture come from that direction – and shadows never come from the north!

Ruins on the site in 1718

E S W

The right of the picture must be east, south or west (depending on what time of day the picture was drawn).

Ruins on the site in 1718

E

But if right was EAST ---

Ruins on the site in 1718

--- the church would have stood in the front of the picture – and we’ve already seen that is impossible.

Ruins on the site in 1718

S

If right was SOUTH ---

Ruins on the site in 1718

--- the church would have stood to the right of the picture – and we’ve already seen that is also impossible.

Ruins on the site in 1718

W

So the right of the picture must be WEST. The picture was drawn in the evening.

Ruins on the site in 1718

W

N

And the picture was drawn from the town walls on the northern side ---

--- roughly the same place from which this modern photo was taken.

Ruins on the site in 1718

NThe church must have stood on the far side of the cloister – and we can probably see the base of its central tower still surviving.

NIf we put the church back in place it would have looked like this.

N

Gatehouse ?

The small roof beyond it is probably the gatehouse ---

--- opening onto the modern High Street,

with St James’ Church on the opposite side of the High Street – about here.

The chapter house, for meetings of the friars, would have been on the eastern side of the cloister – about here.

Probably the building

looked something like this.

If we superimpose the reconstruction on the photo of the site today, we can see roughly where the medieval priory buildings once stood.

That means that, walking in front of the Greyfriars site along the High Street – which today looks like this

--- in the Middle Ages would have looked something like this.