Colchester - A walk around some landmarks
Colchester was the first capital of Roman Britain Although it was burned in 60ce during the rising of the British queen Boudicca, Colchester soon became one of the chief towns in Roman Britain, and surviving relics of that period include walls and gateways.
A wander around some of these parts today, allowed me to get a few images which I have included here. Although I have been to Colchester many times over the years, for some reason I have taken very few images - today I will start to redress that.
The Balkern gateway
In the Roman period the wall had six gates located at regular intervals. Of these only two survive above ground today: Balkerne Gate and Duncan’s Gate. The Balkerne Gate was the original main entrance to Colchester. It was upgraded to a Triumphal Arch celebrating the conquest of Britannia by the Roman Emperor Claudius. The remains of a Roman Guardroom can be found next to the Balkerne Gate. Originally, it would have been the gate for the main road leading towards London. There were two large archways for wheeled vehicles and two smaller ones for pedestrians. Today, only the southern pedestrian archway and guardroom survive, representing less than a quarter of the original gateway.
Colchester has the earliest, best preserved and one of the longest Roman city walls in Britain. Its construction began in the period AD 65 to 80 following the destruction of the then-town during the revolt by Queen Boudica against Roman rule. The entire wall circuit is 2,800 metres, or 1¾ miles, in length and it once stood nearly 6 metres high. The Roman Wall can be walked around today and is best seen in Castle Park and at the top of Balkerne Hill near the Hole in the Wall public house.
Jumbo Water Tower is a water tower at the Balkerne Gate. Construction took around 20 months and was completed in 1883.The tower is 40.1m tall overall and contains 1.2 million red bricks. The tower was nicknamed ’Jumbo’ after the London Zoo elephant as a term of derision in 1882 by Reverend John Irvine who was annoyed that the tower dwarfed his nearby rectory at St. Mary-at-the-Walls! After a century of service the water tower became superfluous to the water supply system and was sold off by Anglian Water in 1987. In 2008 a local charity, the Balkerne Tower Trust, was formed with the aim of restoring the Grade II* listed tower and making it a heritage attraction with guided public access.
Colchester Castle is a Norman castle dating from the second half of the eleventh century. The keep of the castle is mostly intact and is the largest example of its kind anywhere in Europe, due to its being built on the foundations of the Roman Temple of Claudius. The castle endured a three-month siege in 1216, but had fallen into disrepair by the seventeenth century when the curtain walls and some of the keep's upper parts were demolished; its original height is debated. The remaining structure was used as a prison and was partially restored as a large garden pavilion, but was purchased by Colchester Borough Council in 1922. The castle has since 1860 housed Colchester Museum, which has an important collection of Roman exhibits. It is a scheduled monument and a Grade I listed building.
The 'old stone doorway' built by Charles Gray in the Castle Park. Charles Gray FRS was born in the late 17C, a lawyer, antiquary and Tory Member of Parliament for Colchester. Locally, Gray is now most remembered for being given Colchester Castle as part of his marriage settlement, and subsequently making a number of efforts to preserve it for future generations. Likewise, he also purchased a great part of the surrounding land, which was, a hundred and fifty years later, given to the town to become Castle Park.
Who hasn`t heard `Twinkle Twinkle little star`? Very few I would think. While wandering the High Street, I came across this statue of Jane and Ann Taylor who lived in Colcheser, and it was the poet Jane (on the left) who wrote this well known verse in 1806.
The clock tower on the Town Hall
The war memorial in front of the Castle gate
Colchester's oldest standing building, it is the only surviving Saxon building which has an arrowhead (triangle arches) doorway in the tower and features re-used Roman bricks.
According to a local news item recently: `An Essex church which is around 1,000 years old - and the oldest standing building in one city - is set to undergo a "remarkable" transformation after a grant was secured from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. The grant of £147,000 has been secured for the Holy Trinity Church in Colchester, a rare Grade I listed building which dates back to the 11th century.
Colchester Council has said the "significant works" will pave the way for the restoration and adaptation of the church and its tower, which will be refurbished to inject new life into the space. Holy Trinity Church on Trinity Street in the centre of Colchester is believed to be the city's oldest standing building.`
The ruins of St Botolph`s Priory
Founded between 1093 and 1100, the priory of St Julian and St Botolph was one of the first religious houses in England to adopt Augustinian rule. This initially gave it authority over other houses of that order in the country to correct abuses, inflict punishments and prescribe regulations.
Despite these privileges, St Botolph’s remained a small foundation and fund-raising must have been hampered by the existence of the more powerful St John’s Abbey a few hundred yards to the south. Its relative poverty means construction would have been a slow process, and the details of the west front indicate a completion date of around 1150.
When St Botolph’s was dissolved in 1536 its possessions were granted to Sir Thomas Audley, the Lord Chancellor.
Part of the church remained in use as a parish church until the seige of Colchester in 1648, when the Royalist town was attacked by General Fairfax. During the seige the church was largely destroyed by cannon fire and has never been repaired.
The nave was used for burials during the 18th and 19th centuries and south of the church the cloister was at one stage laid out as a garden.
All in all, a great day around Colchester. There are many other things to see in the town, including the beautiful Castle Gardens.
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