Further south along West Stockwell Street from St. Martin’s going up the hill towards the High Street, there is a mystery which doesn’t feature on many city tours anymore.
It is a church graveyard, but it appears to have no church associated with it. The building behind was once a library which has nothing to do with it. So, what is going on? It is known as St. Runwald’s Churchyard and it belongs to a church that no longer exists. Before we get into the history though, note how the graveyard is much higher than the street. This is due to the huge numbers of bodies which have been buried there over the centuries. Many of them will have long ago broken down to soil, but this builds the ground up. It can be seen in many ancient churchyards.
St Runwald's Church once stood in the middle of the High Street at the south end of West Stockwell Street. It was part of a row of buildings which ran up the middle of the High Street which was known as Middle Row.
It had a long and interesting history. The dedication (the earliest 'St Runwald' is recorded in the 8th century) and thickness of its walls indicates that the first church may have been built in Anglo-Saxon origin, as does its location in the middle of the High Street. The town was re-established by King Edward the Elder after he evicted the Danes who were camped in the ruins of the Roman town in 917. The church had a rectangular nave with opposing doorways and a square chancel.
However, its odd location in the middle of the High Street and the fact that the graveyard is separate may indicate the church was built when the area was already quite well built up. Maybe it started as a chapel of ease and only became a parish church with burial rights later on. The earliest record of it is 1254. The church was rebuilt in the late 11th to early 12th centuries as a building made of rubble with a small rectangular nave and a square chancel similar to St. Helens Chapel in Maidenburgh Street, although the latter doesn’t have a chancel. It was a poor parish and its medieval rectors didn’t seem to stay very long.
Middle Row in which it stood ran along the middle of the High Street and is first recorded in 1488, situated to the east of St Runwald's. It later included the Butcher's Shambles constructed in 1583-4 which consisted of a two-storey timber-framed building with a tiled roof. In the 15th century it was decided to add a lady chapel to St. Runwald’s and because of Middle Row, it had to be added to the north side of the church. It was connected by an arcade which had two bays.
By the end of the 16th century, it was in a poor state. A small tower at its west end may have been topped with a cupola, but by the end of the 17th this had been demolished and replaced by a bell turret. It is shown on the John Speed map of 1610 and a map of 1748 shows a row of buildings here including a church. In 1760 the church was 'Georgianised' when the structure was restored using brick and much of the earlier detail was obscured. The Chapman and Andre map which was surveyed 1772-74 and in published 1777 shows a church here and hints at other buildings.
An 1805 map shows Middle Row and part of Middle Row is shown on a town plan of 1848, but it was demolished in 1857/8 leaving the eastern end of St. Runwald’s exposed. By this time, it was once again in a poor state. It was also considered to be a nuisance located as it was in the middle of the High Street. It was made redundant on 1st January 1873. It can be seen in this photo from 1878.
Also, in the photo you will notice there is no Jumbo water tower, but you can see the Rectory of St. Mary’s Church at the top of the picture behind where Jumbo now stands. It has been replaced by the Mercury Theatre. You can also see Colchester’s first Victorian Town Hall which was built in 1844. Shortly after this photo was taken it was demolished in 1878 and was replaced by the present Town Hall which was finished in 1902.
St. Runwald’s was demolished in 1878 and it was completely gone by 1879, just leaving behind its graveyard. Its parish was amalgamated into the neighbouring one of St. Nicholas which stood further along the High Street and was the location from which the above photo was taken. St. Nicholas’ church is also now long gone though as it was demolished in 1955.
In 1927 during the installation of a gas main several wall foundations and also burials on the site of St Runwald's Church were found. Three of the wall foundations ran north to south and were thought to be medieval or post-medieval. One of them was close to the line of the west boundary of 134 High Street and was probably part of the east wall of St Runwald's Church.
Nothing seems to remain of its Anglo-Saxon origins, but bits of the church can still be found. The north arcade of the church was re-erected in St Albright’s Church at Stanway. Some of the building rubble was re-used to build new houses in the town (Cloisters and ‘St Runwald’s’ which are both in Maldon Road, and 26-30 Creffield Road). Some of the church valuables, its parish chest and a church bell passed to St Nicholas’ church in 1878 and are now held by Colchester and Ipswich Museums.
A small altar table from St Runwald’s is now in St James’ Church in Colchester. It’s church organ is now in St. Clement’s Church, West Thurrock. Coincidentally it was first played in St. Runwald’s Church on St Clement’s day which was 23rd November 1806’. It is also rumoured that some of the windows may have been reused in Angel House which stands opposite the graveyard in West Stockwell Street.
So, who was St. Runwald? He was a Saxon saint and churches were dedicated to him, of which at least four survive. His name had several spellings including Rumbold, Rumwold, Rumwald and Rumbald. Churches built or dedicated after the Norman Conquest in 1066 are not normally named after Saxon saints, which is why the church named after him in Colchester is believed to be Saxon although not as early as the Saint himself as he is said to have been born in 662 in what is now Northamptonshire and may have been the grandson of an Anglo-Saxon King.
He is said to have lived for only three days. Despite his short life he is said to have been full of Christian piety was able to speak from the moment of his birth. Immediately after being born, he is said to have cried out: "Christianus sum, christianus sum, christianus sum" ("I am a Christian, I am a Christian, I am a Christian"), requested baptism, and delivered a sermon prior to his early death. So, a remarkable, but very short-lived saint, had dedicated to a him, a very long lived church, which is now long gone, but has left plenty of echoes behind. If you come on one of my tours, we can stop at St. Runwald’s but even if you don’t, next time you are passing the graveyard, spare a thought for St. Runwald and his church.