Colchester St Mary at the Walls, Essex Genealogy

England Essex  Essex Parishes



Parish History
Colchester St James the Great is an Ancient Parish in the town. Colchester St James was one of twelve parishes created within the walls of this township. St James is an Ancient Parish and former Priory church in the town.

St. James the Great is a Church of England church located on East Hill in Colchester. The oldest part of the church dates to the 12th Century. The nave, tower, and two aisles were built between the 13th and 15th Centuries. The chancel and the Chapels of Our Lady and St. Peter and St. Paul were added around 1500. The radical priest John Ball, a leader of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 preached at the church.

The diocese of Chelmsford was created in 1914, prior to this Essex parishes were in the jurisdiction of the Bishops of London until 1845 when they transferred to the diocese of Rochester. The diocese of Chelmsford has 474 parishes and 600 churches and is the second largest region in the church of England outside London.

Originally built on part of St John's Abbey cemetery around AD 1150, contains work from every century since. It was declared redundant in 1956 and then used as a St John Ambulance depot until 1975 when it was converted in to a masonic centre.

Here are the twelve ancient parishes comprising Colchester Township:


 * All Saints- 1708
 * St. Botolph - 1560
 * St. Giles - 1593
 * St. James - 1609
 * St. Leonard, or the Hythe - 1542
 * St. Mary Magdalen - 1708
 * St. Mary-at-the-Walls - 1559
 * St. Martin - 1622
 * St. Nicholas - 1541
 * St. Peter - 1611; FHL has Bts only
 * St. Runwald - 1598
 * The Holy Trinity - 1696

In addition, the following five parishes and chapels are found without the walls, but lying within Colchester Parish boundaries; they were:


 * Bere-Church- 1664
 * Greenstead -1576; FHL has Bts only from 1800
 * Lexden - 1560
 * MileEnd - 1800
 * Stanway All Saints - 1845

Here is an 1848 historical perspective by the topographer, Samuel A. Lewis.



Parish History
Colchester St Mary at the Walls was an Ancient Parish in the county of Essex. Colchester St Mary at the Walls was one of twelve parishes created within the walls of this township.

The diocese of Chelmsford was created in 1914, prior to this Essex parishes were in the jurisdiction of the Bishops of London until 1845 when they transferred to the diocese of Rochester. The diocese of Chelmsford has 474 parishes and 600 churches and is the second largest region in the church of England outside London.

On Church Street, to the east of Balkerne Hill is St Mary-at-the-Walls, built against the Roman Walls and overlooking the western suburbs of the town. First recorded in 1206, the church has a notable history. It is the site at which 23 Protestant martyrs were executed by burning during the reign of the Mary I ("Bloody Mary"). During the English Civil War the church tower was used as a gun emplacement by the Royalist army, this resulted in its destruction by New Model Army siege batteries. The theory that the tower gave rise to the rhyme Humpty Dumpty is now probably disproved. The tower of the Norman church remains, the rest was rebuilt in red brick in 1713 - 14. Philip Morant, the Essex historian, was Rector from 1737 to 1770[9]. There was a further major rebuild in 1872 In 1978, the parish was united with Christ Church in a new building in Ireton Road. The old church became redundant; the bell went to St Leonard's in Lexden and the organ to Brentwood Cathedral. In 1980, the building reopened as the Colchester Arts Centre.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Online images are available Seax - Essex Archives Online From the Essex Record Office

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Index for the Census may be searched at FamilySearch Historical Records

http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Poor Law Unions
Colchester Poor Law Union,Essex

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Essex Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.