Modern
C19–C20
The One Square Mile includes landmarks that are ancient and medieval as well as some that are much more modern. The newest landmark is Firstsite art gallery opened in 2011. Nearby is Hollytrees, built in 1718 in a distinctive Georgian style with symmetrical features. In the High Street, the Town Hall was built in 1902 to replace the Victorian Town Hall built in 1844. Nearby Jumbo water tower was completed in 1883 although at first it wasn't the popular landmark it is now. The Reverend Irvine from St Mary's Church complained that the tower was too big, nicknaming it Jumbo after a circus elephant. The build went ahead and eventually gave the town its first constant supply of clean water.
Firstsite
Photography Kate Goodall
Firstsite opened in 2011. It was designed by architect Rafael Viñoly.
The Minories
Photograph credit: Elliot Brown, usage: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
In 1776 Thomas Boggis had the tudor family house at the Minories renovated in the latest style. He had inherited the house from his father Isaac who had become very wealthy as a Colchester baymaker. From the street you can see the newly added brickwork, columns and windows. After several long lets and use by Colchester doctors the house was sold to the Victor Batte-Lay Trust in 1956. Today it is an art charity and gallery.
Hollytrees
Photograph credit: The wub, usage: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Hollytrees was built in 1718 on the site of another house. It was built for Elizabeth Cornelisen and passed to Sarah Creffield and her husband Charles Gray in 1727. Charles Gray also owned the castle. The estate passed to the Round family and eventually to Colchester Corporation. It opened as a museum in 1929.
Town Hall
Photography Adrian Rushton
The Town Hall we see today was built in 1902 to replace the Victorian Town Hall built in 1844. The current building is designed in a baroque style and has statues of significant Colchester figures decorating the outside including Boudica, Eudo and William Gilberd.
Mercury Theatre
Photograph credit: Paul Farmer, usage: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
The Mercury Theatre was designed by local architects Norman Downie in 1972. It became the permanent home of professional theatre in Colchester.
Jumbo water tower is a well known Colchester landmark. It was built in 1883 to provide safe, clean water for Colchester residents. Before this the town got its water from the many wells and springs in the area but there was always a risk of the wells being contaminated from local industry. Early attempts to provide a piped system pumped water through wooden, lead or iron pipes from a cistern or reservoir to wealthy areas of town for a few hours a day and for a fee. Poorer people continued to rely on collecting their water from wells. Public health concerns in the 1860s and 1870s along with a number of building fires persuaded the town leaders to organise a town wide water network that would provide a constant supply of clean water. Jumbo isn't part of Colchester's water supply network today but is a landmark standing 40 metres high and built from 1.25 million bricks.
Jumbo Water Tower
Photograph credit: The wub, usage: CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed
Jumbo water tower is a well known Colchester landmark. It was built in 1883 to provide safe, clean water for Colchester residents. Today the water tower is a landmark for the whole town standing 40 metres high and built from 1.25 million bricks.
Jane Taylor wrote the poem 'The Star' in 1806 when she lived in Colchester with her family. The first verse of this poem is best known as the nursery rhyme Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. In 2024 a statue was unveiled in the High Street to celebrate this.
Jane Taylor House
Joanne Locke
Joanne Locke
The Taylor family lived here from 1796 to 1810. Sisters Jane and Ann were both writers, sometimes publishing their work together.
Jane and Ann Taylor Statue
Photography Kate Goodall
The statue imagines sisters Jane and Ann Taylor looking up at the stars. Each new moon members of the Taylor family were encouraged to look at the moon and think of each other.
Colchester has a long history with the military, from a Roman fortress and retired Roman soldiers settling in Camulodunum, to the Victorian, 20th and 21st century garrison buildings visible within our One Square Mile.