Column: Colchester Civic Society telling hidden history of town

Now it has become established, the society is keen to encourage others to view anniversary dates from past years.

Details of how to see the daily history are given at the end of this column.

The one for yesterday (Thursday) – March 18, 1929 – is about the opening of Colchester’s new variety theatre venue, The Playhouse, in St John’s Street, with a production of “So this is Love”.

By September 1930, it had been converted to a cinema and is now a public house.

Today (Friday) – March 19, 1950 – will report that on this day the Roman Catholic Church of St Joseph’s was opened at Mile End, in Mill Road, opposite the primary school, as a “chapel of ease” served by St James the Less Church in Priory Street.

St Joseph

Tomorrow’s “on this day” states that on March 20, 2014 Princess Anne visited Colchester Castle to view new displays.

She also visited Kent Blaxill and Co at Shrub End to commemorate the family firm’s 175th anniversary.

The current week also started with a Royal visit – 905 years ago last Sunday!

On March 14, 1216 King John arrived in Colchester during a siege of the Norman Castle.

The occupying French soldiers eventually surrendered.

On March 15, 1679 John Winnock set up a charity and almshouses at Golden Noble Hill, in St Giles Parish.

The original building is now grade one listed and the almshouses are still operated by the charity.

Sixty years ago, on March 16, 1961, Antony Buck was elected MP for Colchester in a by-election to succeed Lord Alport, who had vacated the seat when he was made High Commissioner of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in Africa, known since their independence as Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

As for Wednesday – 200 years ago on March 17, 1821 – the Colchester “sphinx”, a stone effigy from the Roman occupation, was discovered by builders during construction of Essex County Hospital in Lexden Road.

It is now displayed in Colchester Castle.

The Colchester Sphinx

Dates for the “on this day” have been contributed by several Civic Society members including Ann Turner, who is a Colchester Tour Guide, Rosemary Jewers, who compiled the society’s “plaque trail” and register of plaques displayed in the town, Jo Edwards, who is the society’s chair, and Colchester High Steward Sir Bob Russell.

Jo Edwards said: “Sources of dates are many and varied, including transcriptions of town manuscripts such as The Red Paper Book and Red Parchment Books and the Colchester Court Rolls.

"They've also included various books on Colchester’s history – such as by authors Patrick Denney, Andrew Phillips, Norman Jacobs, Jess Jephcott, Peter Jones, John Ashdown-Hill, John B Penfold and Sir Gurney Benham – as well as online sources and, of course, the archives of the Essex County Standard and Colchester Daily Gazette.”

Sir Bob said: “We do not have a full list for all 365 days of the year and for some dates we have more than one entry.

“We would be pleased to hear from people with suggested dates for inclusion.

“In due course it is possible that a book will be published, so the more history dates we have – both ancient and modern – the better.”

The “on this day” service is not limited to members of Colchester Civic Society.

Anyone, anywhere, with access to the internet can see the daily posts.

People do not have to be registered or signed up.

The estimated figure of nearly 300 followers is based on the number of “followers” which Colchester Civic Society has on Twitter.

The Civic Society’s Twitter address is @ColCivicSociety and on Facebook it is @ColchesterCivicSociety.

The website is www.colchestercivicsociety.co.uk