Historian ALICE GOSS goes elephant-spotting in Colchester town centre...

When we think of elephants in Colchester, our minds automatically think of the elephants up at Colchester Zoo which first opened to the public as Stanway Hall Park Zoo in 1963.

Colchester has had a long association with elephants for nearly two thousand years and with elephants in the zoo that association looks set to continue for many years to come.

The zoo acquired their first elephants which arrived in 1965, these being a pair of Asian elephants called Moto and Toto who remained at the zoo until the early 1970s.

Today, there are four magnificent African elephants out in their paddock, standing majestically, wowing visitors every day as we watch them feeding in the open air. Tanya and Zola both arrived in 1985 while Opal and Tembo arrived in 1998. Tembo was rescued from Chipperfield’s Circus after its owner, Mary Chipperfield, was convicted of animal cruelty in 1999.

Gazette:

The next elephant connection centres around the Roman occupation of Camuludunum in AD43, when one of Claudius’s generals, Allus Plautius, who had taken control of the town asked for reinforcements. Allus originally arrived with four legions of men, however Claudius agreed to his request, sending from his base in Gaul reserves of men and provisions accompanied by some elephants. This must have been quite a sight for the ancient Britons, when they saw these large animals for the first time!

The next connection concerns another circus which travelled around the country with a large herd of elephants. There is a well-known photograph taken in Crouch Street outside the Kings Arms public house sometime in the early 1880s depicting some 14 elephants in procession down the street. These elephants would have been part of a travelling circus belonging to George Sanger, or ‘Lord George’ as he became known due to the smart way he dressed. Travelling sideshows and circuses were popular in mid Victorian times. as they are today, and Although Colchester is still visited by a travelling circus each year, the elephants no longer form part of the entertainment in light of the animal cruelty at Chipperfield’s Circus and intervention by animal right activists in the late 1990s.

Gazette:

The elephant continues to play a part in shaping Colchester’s town centre; this time with a connection to a different zoo and circus. The Jumbo water tower has been a visible landmark in the town since its construction back in 1882. The Rev John Irvine, who was the then vicar at St. Mary’s at the Walls, caused some controversy when he denounced the construction of a huge new water tower at the foot of his rectory garden in 1882. Irvine denounced the tower as a ‘Jumbo’, a reference to a popular elephant at London Zoo that had been sold over public outcry to circus entrepreneur P.T Barnum. Despite Irvine’s objections, the water tower was constructed and stands tall over the town. Right at the very top, there is a weather vane, depicting an elephant and a reference to Jumbo.

In more recent times, new pavement information plaques have been installed between the town centre and the railway station, relating to the town’s heritage and the old Roman road which led through the North Gate to Myland and beyond. These plaques depict an elephant and the bottom, helping to maintain the town’s long association with these magnificent animals.

The two elephant signs in the High Street at the top of North Hill add another town centre connection to the elephant. There really are elephants in Colchester!