Editing Colchester (section)

===Colchester Town Hall===
{{Main|Colchester Town Hall}}
The town hall is built on the site of the original [[moot hall]], first recorded in 1277 and demolished in 1843. Replacing a Victorian town hall which had become unstable,<ref name="Cooper-274-277">{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol9/pp274-277|title=A History of the County of Essex: Volume 9, the Borough of Colchester – Municipal buildings, Pages 274–277|editor-last1=Cooper|editor-first1=Janet|editor-last2=Elrington|editor-first2=C R|year=1994|website=british-history.ac.uk|publisher=British History Online – University of London|access-date=30 September 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161002100235/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol9/pp274-277|archive-date=2 October 2016}}</ref> work on the present building started in 1897 to the design of [[John Belcher (architect)|John Belcher]] in the [[Edwardian Baroque]] style,<ref name ="Pevsner276">{{cite book|last1=Bettley|first1=James|last2=Pevsner|first2=Nicholas|date=2007|title=Essex: Buildings of England Series|publisher=Yale University Press|pages=276–277|isbn=978-0300116144}}</ref> and was opened in 1902 by former [[prime minister of the United Kingdom|prime minister]], the [[Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery|Earl of Rosebery]].<ref name ="Cooper"/> The building dominates the High Street and the 192-foot (58.5-metre) Victoria Tower is widely visible. The tower was intended to commemorate the [[Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria]] and was funded by a donation from [[James Noah Paxman]], the founder of [[Davey, Paxman & Co]]. It features four [[allegorical figure]]s by [[L J Watts]] representing engineering, military defence, agriculture and fishery.<ref name ="Pevsner276"/> At the top of the tower is a large bronze figure representing Saint Helena (the [[patron saint]] of Colchester) holding the True Cross; a local story says that a councillor was dispatched to Italy to find a statue of the saint, but could only find one of the [[Virgin Mary]], which then had to be modified locally.<ref>{{cite book|last=Denney|first=Patrick|date=2006|title=Round About Colchester: Exploring Local History With the East Anglian Daily Times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QrvAr0Bp6NAC&q=Colchester+statue+of+saint+helena+%22virgin+mary%22&pg=PA42|publisher=Wharncliffe Books|page=42|isbn=978-1845630058|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161002011701/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QrvAr0Bp6NAC&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=Colchester+statue+of+saint+helena+%22virgin+mary%22&source=bl&ots=WVQ83TWj1G&sig=9svjPGmBTrcTsQWTY8471s2Emw4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwib9Nat8bfPAhUHKx4KHUkqAe8Q6AEIHjAB|archive-date=2 October 2016}}</ref>