St. Mary at the Walls Church (Colchester)
St. Mary at the Walls is one of several mediaeval churches in the enormously historic Essex town of Colchester.
It stands just inside the Roman Walls, close to the Balkerne Gate.
The West tower is Perpendicular, with upper parts rebuilt in 1729. The rest of the church was rebuilt at the expense of Sir Isaac Rebow in 1714 and again by Sir Arthur Bloomfield in 1872.
The reason for all this rebuilding was the severe damage caused to St. Mary's in 1648 during the long Siege of Colchester in the Civil War.
Colchester's town school was until the 16th century situated in St. Mary's churchyard.
The church is now used as a very popular Arts Centre.
While St. Mary's was being used for defence during the Siege, a cannon named Humpty Dumpty was stationed on top of the wall, and unfortunately it was knocked off. Does that sound familiar?