Colchester

From the records: “In the 1980s an archaeological inventory showed that over 800 sherds of pottery from the Neolithic, Bronze Age and early Iron Age have been found within Colchester, along with many examples of worked flint.”

From the records: “The Celtic fortress of "Camulodunon", meaning Stronghold of Camulos is first mentioned on coins minted by Tasciovanus in the period 20-10BC.”

From the records: “Before the Roman conquest of Britain it was already a centre of power for Cunobelin – known to Shakespeare as Cymbeline – king of the Catuvellauni (c. 5 BC – AD 40), who minted coins there.”

From the records: “A Roman legionary fortress or castrum, the first permanent legionary fortress to be built in Britain, was established within the confines of Camulodunon (which was Latinised as Camulodunum) following the successful invasion in AD 43, and was home to the Twentieth Legion.”

From the records: “The enormous size of the keep was dictated by the decision to use the masonry base or podium of the Temple of Claudius, built between AD 49 and 60, which was the largest Roman temple in Britain.”

From the records: “Camulodunum served as a provincial Roman capital of Britain, but was attacked and destroyed during Boudica's rebellion in AD 61.”

From the records: “Construction of the walls of Colchester took place between 65 and 80 AD, shortly after the destruction of the undefended colonia by Boudicca, and they continued in use until after the Siege of Colchester in 1648.”

From the records: “In the late 1st century amphorae, called "Camulodunum Carrots" for their shape and colour, were made in the colonia, and are found in thin numbers across Britain.”

From the records: “In 2004, Colchester Archaeological Trust discovered the remains of a Roman Circus (chariot race track) underneath the Garrison in Colchester, a unique find in Britain.”

From the records: “Archaeological evidence shows that the post-Roman, but pre-Saxon, settlement of the early 5th century gave way from about 440–450 to a culture that was overwhelmingly Saxon in its character.”

From the records: “A new port at the present Hythe improved the situation somewhat, and the town shows an increase in foreign trade during the 10th century and a mint from 991.”

From the records: “Eudo directed the construction of Colchester Castle (c. 1073 – 1080) on the remains of the Temple of Claudius, as a royal rather than baronial castle, intending it to be at the centre of the defence of Eastern England.”

From the records: “See also: Colchester churches; St John's Abbey, Colchester; and St Botolph's Priory The largest and richest ecclesiastical institution in medieval Colchester was St John's Abbey, a Benedictine monastery founded in 1095 on the site of an existing Saxon church to St John the Baptist or St John the Evangelist to the south of the town.”

From the records: “The town hosted King Henry II for a week in May 1157 after his crown-wearing at Bury St Edmunds, with his entourage which included the Archbishop of York, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of London, Lincoln, Chichester, and Exeter, the Earl of Leicester, the Earl of Salisbury, Warin FitzGerald (a local Essex lord) and the Lord Chancellor Thomas Becket.”

From the records: “Colchester received its first town charter in 1189 from Richard the Lionheart before he embarked on his crusade, although it is clear from the wording of the document that the rights and privileges granted to the burgesses of Colchester pre-existed their formal recognition in the document.”

From the records: “King John, who had visited the town several times in 1204, 1205, 1209, 1212 and 1214, had to send forces to besiege and take the castle from Baronial supporters in 1216, with King John himself arriving in the town later in March.”

From the records: “By 1247 a fulling mill was recorded in the borough, and the russet woollen and linen cloths produced in the 13th century were sold at fairs in Ipswich and Boston, with Henry III buying Colchester russets to clothe his servants in 1248.”

From the records: “In the winter of 1348–49 the Black Death struck the town, killing up to 1,500 people including the Abbot and Prior of St.”

From the records: “Colchester was one of the centres of the Peasants' Revolt in 1381.”

From the records: “One of the two bells in St Nicholas church was cast by Joanna Hille in 1411, the first recorded example of a woman casting a church bell.”

From the records: “Thomas Malory, author of the Arthurian romance Le Morte d'Arthur, was imprisoned in Colchester Castle in October 1454 for crimes including horse theft.”

From the records: “The 1560s saw the beginning of a sustained period of immigration to Colchester, consisting primarily of Protestant Dutch weavers and clothmakers fleeing religious persecution in Flanders.”

From the records: “In 1648, Colchester was thrown into the thick of the Second English Civil War when a large Royalist army (led by Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle) entered the town.”

From the records: “Daniel Defoe mentions in A tour through England and Wales that the town lost 5,259 people to the plague in 1665, "more in proportion than any of its neighbours, or than the city of London".”

From the records: “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.”

From the records: “The first formal barracks were built in Colchester in 1794, and expanded throughout the Napoleonic Wars.”

From the records: “Between 1796 and 1810 Jane Taylor lived in West Stockwell Street of the Dutch Quarter, famous for writing the poem Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”

From the records: “The railways first came to Colchester in 1843, with the Eastern Counties Railway extending the London to Chelmsford line north to Colchester; arriving at what is now Colchester railway station.”

From the records: “Completed in 1883 when the Town Council took over Colchester's water supply, the 110-foot (34-metre) water tower was originally called the "Balkerne Water Tower", but soon became known as "Jumbo" because of its large size, which prompted the addition of an elephant-shaped weather vane at its peak.”

From the records: “This continued into the 20th century, with the construction of Goojerat, Sabraon, Hyderabad, and Meaner barracks from 1900–1904.”

From the records: “Between 1920 and 1922, the Castle and the associated parkland were bought by the Borough of Colchester using a large donation from Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, a wealthy industrialist who had been the town's Member of Parliament.”

From the records: “The University of Essex was established at Wivenhoe Park in 1961.”

From the records: “On 20 May 2022, it was announced that as part of the Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours, what was then the Borough of Colchester would receive city status.”