City in Essex, England
Colchester
Britain's first capital, burned to the ground by Boudica, still guarded by Europe's biggest Norman keep, and the town Old King Cole may have ruled.
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Key information
- County
- Essex
- Nation
- England
- Population
- Not given here: figures vary by definition, so check the 2021 Census
- Known for
- Britain's oldest recorded town, Roman Camulodunum, the biggest Norman keep in Europe, native oysters
- What locals are called
- Colcestrians
- Famous people
- William Gilbert, Jane Taylor, Sir Charles Lucas
- Football clubs
- Colchester United (the U's)
About Colchester
The Roman capital that Britain forgot
Colchester has a strong claim to being the oldest recorded town in Britain, and it was once the biggest prize in the province. After the Roman invasion of AD 43 the settlement of Camulodunum became the first capital of Roman Britain. A colony of retired legionaries was planted there around AD 49. Those veterans had taken local farmland, and the Britons resented it. In about AD 60 the Iceni queen Boudica led her rebels here and burned the town to the ground. Archaeologists still dig through a stripe of red-burnt debris beneath the modern streets, a physical record of that destruction. The Romans rebuilt, and then the capital role shifted to London. Colchester kept the walls, which are still among the best surviving Roman town defences in Britain. It also kept the Balkerne Gate, the largest surviving Roman gateway in the country.
A castle built on a temple
Colchester Castle has the largest Norman keep ever built in Europe, bigger than the White Tower in London. It went up in the 1070s and 1080s, and its builders reused Roman bricks and sat it on the vaults of the Temple of Claudius. That temple was the Roman town's showpiece, and it was probably the building that Boudica's rebels torched. The castle later served as a prison. During the English Civil War and the witch panic of the 1640s, suspects rounded up by Matthew Hopkins, the self-styled Witchfinder General, were held here. In late 2004 archaeologists investigating former garrison land discovered the remains of a Roman chariot-racing circus. The discovery was announced in 2005, and it is the only Roman circus yet found in Britain.
The siege that ended with a firing squad
In the summer of 1648 Royalist forces under Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle held Colchester against Parliament's army for eleven weeks. The townspeople were reduced to eating horses and dogs before the surrender. Parliament's commander, Sir Thomas Fairfax, had Lucas and Lisle shot in the castle grounds. A memorial obelisk marks the spot. The siege left its mark on the town. St Mary-at-the-Walls church was wrecked, and its tower was rebuilt later. Damage from the siege can be seen on old buildings in the town.
Old King Cole and Twinkle Twinkle
Locals have long claimed the nursery rhyme's merry old soul as their own. The local legend links Old King Cole to Coel, a legendary ruler of Colchester during the Roman period, said to be the father of Helena, mother of Constantine the Great. The town has played up the connection for centuries. The town has a stronger connection to another nursery favourite. Jane Taylor, who wrote the poem that became 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star', lived in Colchester with her family when it first appeared in print in 1806. William Gilbert was born here in 1544. He became physician to Elizabeth I and is often called the father of electrical science, having coined the word 'electricus'.
Oysters, a water tower called Jumbo and a famous giant-killing
Colchester native oysters have been prized since Roman times, and the surrounding creeks and Mersea Island still produce them. The Colchester Oyster Feast, held each autumn, is one of the oldest of its kind in the country. The Victorian water tower on the skyline is nicknamed Jumbo, after the famous circus elephant. It is one of the most recognisable landmarks in the town. In football, Colchester United, the U's, are best known for one afternoon in 1971, when the Fourth Division side beat mighty Leeds United 3-2 in the FA Cup fifth round. It is still the club's most celebrated result. Colchester is also an army garrison town, and the University of Essex sits just outside the centre at Wivenhoe Park. Its giant brutalist towers and Roman streets make a striking pairing.