Colchester, East Gate c.1955

Photo ref: C136015

More about this scene

Colchester was also visited by the Roman Emperor himself, who considered the capture of this capital vital to the success of the conquest from AD43 onwards. The next appearance on the chart of British history was less happy. Boudicca, or, as she used to be known, 'Boadicea', queen of the Iceni and daughter of King Prasutagus, ruled much of what is now East Anglia and rose in revolt after being flogged and her daughters raped by the Romans. The town with its mostly timber buildings was burnt, though the stone Temple of Claudius defied the Britons for two more days. The rebels swept on to burn more towns before their defeat, and Colchester was rebuilt and walled in stone. It never fully recovered; although it remained a prosperous town, Londinium, the more natural focus for the province, rapidly outstripped it as the premier settlement of Britannia. During the Anglo-Saxon period the town was occupied at varying degrees of intensity, but the only physical reminder of these centuries is the fine west tower of Holy Trinity church, a mid 11th-century landmark. It uses salvaged Roman bricks, septaria and stone from ruined Roman buildings, a habit continued by the Normans after 1066, when the town was a prosperous one with seven priests. This presumably relates to the number of churches, including Holy Trinity, St Botolph's and St Runwald's, which was in the High Street near the town hall and was only demolished in 1878. The Norman arrival led, as in other towns such as Norwich, to wholesale demolition to accommodate a castle with its baileys within the town walls. The great castle cleared the north- east sector of the Roman town.

An extract from Colchester Photographic Memories.