Lion Walk (United Reformed) Church - Lion Walk, Colchester, UK
N 51° 53.306 E 000° 54.034
31U E 355522 N 5750712
The steeple is all that remains of the church built in 1863 with the body of the church having been rebuilt above the shops in the adjacent shopping centre.
Waymark Code: WMRMRN
Location: Eastern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 07/10/2016
Views: 0
The building is Grade II listed with the entry at the Historic England website, that was written before the shopping centre was built, advising:
1863. By Frederick Barnes of Ipswich, spire rebuilt after the 1884 earthquake. Random stone; in the Decorated Gothic style. 5 bay nave, each with a tall 3-light window with cinquefoil heads and diamond lattices. 4-light window with 3 roundels in the head on the west front. Tall octagonal steeple, cement rendered. Slate roof.
The church's website gives further information:
In 1863 the Round Meeting House was demolished and in its place was erected a Victorian Gothic-style edifice, built of Caen stone at a cost of £6,500. One prominent member left because of the design - a "steeple house" pointing to Rome. In fact large parts of the steeple fell before the end of the century once in a violent storm and once in, of all things, an earthquake.
The church rode these calamities and was led through the first half of the 20th Century by a succession of popular ministers. By 1940 however, the Caen stone had begun to deteriorate. By 1972 - the year in which Lion Walk became part of the newly-created United Reformed Church. The painful decision to demolish and rebuild had to be made; it was agreed that Lion Walk must remain a town-centre church. Planning permission for development of the site was made conditional upon the tower and steeple remaining. It has been underpinned and renovated so that more than ever before it lifts the eyes and heart skywards.
The church's new position above shops means that most of the £1.5 million cost of the new complex has been borne by the developers, but members and friends of the church have worked and given sacrificially to create a worthy place of worship. The fine Willis organ has been enlarged and re-installed.