THESE images from the archives show some of the churches in Colchester through the decades.

For many these buildings are part of the tapestry of the town - always there.

Among them featuring in our selection include Roman Catholic St James the Less and St Helen in Priory Street and St John’s Church in St John’s Close which had a large extension built in the 1980s.

And St Giles’ Church, St John’s Green which was originally built on part of St John’s Abbey cemetery around AD 1150 and has work from every century since.

having been declared redundant in 1956 it was then used as a St. John Ambulance depot until 1975 when it was converted into a masonic centre.