 The church remained this way until the Siege of Colchester in 1648 during the Second English Civil War.A Royalist army had seized the town, which was then surrounded and bombarded by the New Model Army led by Thomas Fairfax, with St Botolph's being caught in the crossfire of the assault on South Gate, reducing it to its present ruinous state.In 1837 a Gothic Victorian church was built next to the ruins, partially covering the location of the priory's cloister.