Sir Bob Russell tells the story of Colchester's two coat of arms

My photographs illustrate the striking difference. Both examples are at separate entrances to the Castle Park.

The “white” cross is on the original main gates when the Castle Park opened in 1892, from Museum Street, while the “green” cross is on the gates which since 1922 have been the main entrance from the War Memorial.

The Council Chamber in the Town Hall is the only place I know which displays both versions together, the “green” cross being painted years later as part of the murals during restoration work.

It was at the monthly meeting of Colchester Town Council in March 1915 that it was agreed to restore the “green” cross – and three nails, as shown in my photograph.

So what is the story behind Colchester’s two variations of its coat of arms?

We have to go back to 1413 and The Royal Charter granted to Colchester by King Henry V, which has the earliest known representation of the Borough arms. The cross is green. The Charter also shows the town’s Patron Saint, St Helena, with her “son” Constantine The Great, the Roman Emperor who in AD:313 made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Colchester’s first Charter, however, was in 1189 (granted by King Richard I) but it has long been lost so we do not know if it had a coat of arms on it. It is thought likely that the “green” cross was in use prior to the 1413 Charter.

As an historical aside, it seems that Colchester is the only place in Essex which has a Patron Saint. Why we have St Helena is probably based on a myth of her being from Colchester.

The story of St Helena (also known as Helen) and her reputed visit to the Holy Land is a mixture of myth and legend. While legend says she was born in Colchester, the daughter of “Old King Coel”, it is doubtful she was English. Her roots are more likely to be in Constantinople, today’s Istanbul in Turkey. Further, King Coel is probably mythical.

Whether St Helena is the mother of Constantine is also open to question, but what is a fact is that he was the Roman Emperor who became a Christian…..and changed the course of history.

The story goes that in the Holy Land Helena discovered the cross on which Christ was crucified – it was a living tree, hence the “green” cross. She also found the nails of the crucifixion, and the crowns of the three kings from the Nativity. The red background to the coat of arms represents the blood of Christ.

Larger versions of the coat of arms depict the quartering of the cross by means of a “fylfot”, an ancient symbol representing good but which was reversed by the Nazis for their swastika!

The precise year is not known, but it was at the time of the Reformation – from 1532-34 – when Henry VIII broke with the Church of Rome to establish Protestantism, and became Head of the Church of England with the Dissolution of Monasteries, that the decision was made to change Colchester’s alleged “Papal superstition” coat of arms by replacing the green cross with a white cross, and removing the nails.

For up to 380 years anything which required the coat of arms used the “white” cross version, and this was the one displayed outside the Town Hall built in 1844 and the current Town Hall which was officially opened in 1902. Examples can be seen on the lamp columns outside the main entrance and gates in the High Street, and to a side door in West Stockwell Street which has the gates and columns re-used from the 1844 Town Hall.

A report in the Essex County Standard of (Saturday) March 6 1915 of the Town Council meeting on the Wednesday of that week stated it approved a Motion from Alderman Gurney Benham – a former Mayor, and the newspaper’s editor and owner – “that this Council hereby resolves to revert to, and assume, the original form of armorial bearings for the Borough of Colchester as shewn upon the Letters Patent granted to Colchester on July 7, 1413, by King Henry V.”

The Motion was seconded by Alderman Wilson Marriage.

It would appear that Alderman Benham, who in 1933 was Knighted and appointed High Steward of Colchester, was the driving force for the change. He had written a report for the Museum and Muniment Committee which made the formal recommendation.

The Council was told by the Committee’s Chairman, Alderman E.H. Barritt, that the suggestion had originally come from the British Archaeological Society and then the Essex Archaeological Society. Many other authoritative sources also backed the proposal.

Alderman Benham said that Alderman Marriage had visited the College of Arms who had given their support. He added: “Though the arms were changed at the time of the Reformation in a mysterious manner, there was no authority which could be produced for the alteration then made.”

So it came to pass, 100 years ago, that Colchester’s original coat of arms was restored.