History of Colchester

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Colchester is a historic former town [now city] located in Essex, England. It served as the first capital of the United Kingdom and is the oldest recorded town in Britain. It was raided by the Vikings during the 9th and 10th centuries. It also served as an essential location for the medieval cloth trade.

Prehistory

The gravel hill upon which Colchester is built was formed in the

Tendring, large Bronze Age barrow cemeteries at Dedham and Langham, and a larger example at Brightlingsea consisting of a cluster of 22 barrows.[4] Five Bronze Age barrow mounds remain near the University of Essex on the north-east outskirts of the town, although the building of the railway line between Colchester and Clacton-on-Sea in the 1850s may have destroyed more.[3]

Iron Age fortress and Roman Colonia

Main article: Camulodunum

Iron Age Camulodunon

The Iron Age site of Camulodunon

The Celtic fortress of "Camulodunon", meaning Stronghold of

Camulos is first mentioned on coins minted by Tasciovanus in the period 20-10BC.[5] Camulodunon consisted of a series of earthwork defences, built from the 1st century BC onwards with most dating from the 1st century AD.[5] They are considered the most extensive of their kind in Britain[5][6] The defences are made up of lines of ditches and ramparts, possibly palisaded with gateways, that mostly run parallel to each other in a north–south direction. The Iron Age settlement was protected by rivers on three sides, with the River Colne bounding the site to the north and east, and the Roman River valley forming the southern boundary; the earthworks were mostly designed to close off the western gap between these two river valleys.[5][7] Other earthworks closed off eastern parts of the settlement. The main sites within the bounds of these defences are the Gosbecks farmstead, a large high-status settlement with associated religious site,[5] the Sheepen river port and industrial area near the present location of St Helena School and the Lexden burial mounds, a group of barrows and cremation burials.[5] Originally Camulodunon was a stronghold of the Trinovantes tribe, led by kings such as Addedomarus, but at some point in the 1st century AD the aristocracy and ruling families were from the Catuvellauni tribe.[5]

Thames and then waiting for Claudius to cross the Channel. Claudius arrived with reinforcements, including artillery and elephants,[14] leading the attack on Camulodunon. Caratacus fled the storming of the town, taking refuge with the Ordovices and Silures tribes in Wales and becoming a Welsh folk hero for his resistance to Rome.[5] The Roman historian Suetonius and Claudius' triumphal arch state that after this battle the British kings who had been under Cunobelinus’ sons’ control surrendered without further bloodshed, Claudius accepting their submission in Camulodunon.[15]

Roman Camulodunum

Main article:
Roman Colchester
Map of the walled town of Roman Colchester (Colonia Victricensis or Camulodunum)

A Roman legionary fortress or

castrum, the first permanent legionary fortress to be built in Britain,[5] was established within the confines of Camulodunon (which was Latinised as Camulodunum) following the successful invasion in 43AD, and was home to the Twentieth Legion.[9] After the legion was withdrawn in c. 49 AD, the legionary defences were dismantled and the fortress converted into a town, with many of the barrack blocks converted into housing.[5][16] Its official name became Colonia Victricensis, and discharged Roman soldiers making up the population. Tacitus wrote that the town was "a strong colonia of ex-soldiers established on conquered territory, to provide a protection against rebels and a centre for instructing the provincials in the procedures of the law".[10] A Roman monumental temple, the largest classical style temple in Britain, was built there in the 50sAD and was dedicated to Emperor Claudius on his death in 54AD.[16][17] The podium of the temple has been incorporated into the Norman castle, and represents "the earliest substantial stone building of Roman date visible in the country".[10] A monumental arch was built from tufa and Purbeck Marble at the western gate out of the town.[18] Tombs lined the roads out of the town, with several belonging to military veterans,[5] with the most famous being those of Longinus Sdapeze and Marcus Favonius Facilis.[19]

Roman Mosaic found at the Middleborough House, Colchester

The city was the capital of the Roman province of

Iceni rebels were joined by the Trinovantes around Colonia Victricensis, who held several grudges against the Roman population of the town. These included the seizure of land for the colonia's veteran population, the use of labour to build the Temple of Claudius, and the sudden recall of loans given to the local elites by leading Romans (including Seneca and the Emperor), which had been needed to allow the locals to qualify for a position on the city council.[5][20] The Procurator Catus Decianus was especially despised.[9] As the symbol of Roman rule in Britain the city was the first target of the rebels, with its Temple seen in British eyes as the "arx aeternae dominationis" ("stronghold of everlasting domination") according to Tacitus.[10] He wrote that it was undefended by fortifications when it was attacked[20] The rebels destroyed the city and slaughtered its population. Archaeologists have found layers of ash in the site of the city, suggesting that Boudica ordered her rebel army to burn the city to the ground.[21] After the defeat of the uprising, the Procurator of the Roman province moved to the newly established commercial settlement of Londinium (London).[22]

The Roman colonia of Colonia Victricensis in its wider landscape

Following the destruction of the Colonia and

Suetonius Paulinus’ crushing of the revolt the town was rebuilt on a larger scale and flourished,[23] growing larger in size than its pre-Boudican levels (to 108 acres/45 ha)[10] despite its loss of status to Londinium, reaching its peak in the 2nd and 3rd centuries.[5] The town's official name was Colonia Claudia Victricensis (City of Claudius’ Victory), but it was known colloquially by contemporaries as Camulodunum or simply Colonia.[5]

The colonia became a large industrial centre, and was the largest, and for a short time the only, place in the province of Britannia where

samian ware was produced, along with glasswork and metalwork, and a coin mint.[5] Roman brick making and wine growing also took place in the area. Colonia Victricensis contained many large townhouses, with dozens of mosaics and tessellated pavements found, along with hypocausts and sophisticated waterpipes and drains.[5][24] The town was home to a large classical Temple, two theatres (including Britain's largest), several Romano-British temples, Britain's only known chariot circus, Britain's first town walls, several large cemeteries and over 50 known mosaics.[5][9][10] It may have reached a population of 30,000 at its height (in the third and early fourth century).[25]

However, the late 3rd and 4th centuries saw a series of crises in the empire, including the breakaway

Saxon pirates, both of which lead to the creation of the Saxon Shore forts along the east coast of Britain.[16] The fort at Othona overlooking the confluence of the Blackwater and Colne estuaries, and two more at the mouth of the river into the colonia were built to protect the town.[4][5] Balkerne Gate and Duncan's Gate were both blocked up in this period, with the later showing signs of being attacked.[5] The extramural suburbs outside of Balkerne Gate had gone by 300[16] and were replaced by cultivation beds.[26] The re-cutting of the town ditch in front of the newly blocked Balkerne Gate in 275–300 involved destroying the water pipes which entered the colonia through the gate.[26]

As with many towns in the empire, the colonia shrunk in size in the 4th century but continued to function as an important town.

late Roman church at Butt Road[16] just outside the town walls was built with its associated cemetery containing over 650 graves (some containing fragments of Chinese silk), and may be one of the earliest churches in Britain.[5][29] A strong numismatic chronology has been obtained from the over 500 coins found at the site, and puts its date from 320 to c. 425.[26]

Sub-Roman Town

The formal collapse of Roman administration in the province occurred in the years 409–411. Activity in the 5th century continued in Camulodunum at a much reduced level,[27] with evidence of at the Butt Road site showing that it briefly carrying on into the early 5th century.[29]

Several burials within the town's walls have been dated to the 5th century. These include two burials discovered at East Hill House in 1983, which have been surgically decapitated (in a fashion found in both

Constantine III (reigned 407–411) from Artillery Folly, that are heavily clipped; this clipping must have occurred in the years after they were minted and so would have happened in the 5th century.[5][16] Post-Roman/early Saxon burials from the 5th, 6th and 7th centuries, some buried with weapons, have been found outside of the walls in the areas of former Roman cemeteries, suggesting a continuity of practice.[5] Scattered structures have also been excavated by archaeologists, such as a mid-5th-century dwelling at Lion Walk,[18] as well as 5th-century loam weights and cruciform-brooches found across the town.[5] At the Culver Street site a thin layer of early Saxon pottery was discovered along with two dwellings.[1] Other circumstantial evidence of activity includes large post-Roman rubbish dumps, which suggest nearby occupation by Romano-Britons.[27] The existence of a post-Roman entity centred on the town, sometimes linked to the legend of Camelot, has been argued[30] and was first proposed by archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler
.

Saxon and Viking era

Fifth to eighth centuries

See also: Kingdom of Essex

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.

hut at Lion Walk,[18] two huts from Culver Street dating to the 7th century,[1] burials (including warrior graves) found around and within the town which date from 400 to 700,[5] including those on Magdalen Street[1] and the seventh and eighth century burials to the north-east of Castle Park,[32] brooches and loomweights from the fifth to seventh centuries,[5] coins from the seventh and eighth centuries,[5] and scatters of pottery and other artefacts from various sites.[1] There is a possibility that due to financial and time constraints on archaeological investigations from the 1960s–1980s that some Anglo-Saxon evidence may have been lost,[27] with Saxon finds from the demolition of the Medieval Cups Hotel on the High Street suggesting that some structures or features were missed.[1] The early Saxon river port was located to the south-east of the town, at Old Heath (Ealdehethe)[5] and Blackheath (Heath, and the later name of Colchester's port Hythe, derive from Old English hetha, meaning a landing place)[7][33] The Bishop of London's soke in the medieval town may have derived from an earlier Saxon privilege dating from the Kingdom of Essex.[33] The Kingdom of the East Saxons has a very low presence in written historical accounts from the Saxon period,[34] and Colchester does not appear explicitly in written accounts until 917.[7] The History of the Britons traditionally ascribed to Nennius lists a Cair Colun[35] among the 28 cities of Britain, which has been thought to indicate Colchester.[36][37] Geoffrey of Monmouth similarly referenced it as Kaelcolim,[33] while his contemporary Geoffrey Gaimar called it Kair Koel.[33] The Saxon version of the current name of the town is first recorded as "Colenceaster" and "Colneceastre" during the 10th century.[5]

Ninth to eleventh centuries

Edmund of East Anglia was defeated and killed by the Danes and the east of England fell under Danish control. Under a peace treaty between Wessex and the Danes in 879, Colchester was incorporated in the Danelaw.[5] Norfolk and Suffolk were heavily settled by the Danes as can be traced by the density of Scandinavian place names. North-East Essex was also colonised by the Danes,[5] and Scandinavian place names such as Kirby and Thorpe are found around Colchester.[5] Scandinavian names are found later amongst the town's residents,[5] and Scandinavian style weapons have been dredged from the Colne, although these might be Late Saxon or Norman.[5][7] 9th century graves of the town's inhabitants have been discovered in the vicinity of St Marys at the Walls in the south-west corner of the town.[32]

The Kings of Wessex waged continual war on the Danes and finally Colchester was recaptured by English armies under

Maldon
, Edward's army:

"Went to Colchester, and beset the town, and fought thereon till they took it, and slew all the people, and seized all that was therein; except those men who escaped therefrom over the wall."[38]

Following successful battles against the Viking armies, Edward returned to Colchester:

"After this, the same year, before Martinmas, went King Edward with the West-Saxon army to Colchester; and repaired and renewed the town, where it was broken down before."[38]

St Mary-at-the-Walls (which contains 9th-century graves), an earlier church on the site of St Botolph's Priory (which supposedly had a tower similar to Holy Trinity's),[41] and St John the Evangelist’s Church where St Botulph's Roundabout now sits was a Saxon church demolished by the Normans.[29] St Helen's Chapel, built into the remains of the Roman Theatre on Maidenburgh Street, may also have had Saxon origins,[5] as St Helen was often (erroneously) linked to the town in Saxon and later medieval folklore.[33] A chapel (whose remains can be seen in front of the castle) and a 10th-century large hall were built in front of the still-standing ruins of the Temple of Claudius.[32] The 10th-century town was at the heart of a large system of estates held by Essex ealdormen, holdings which were broken up by inheritance through the 11th century.[33]

Medieval era

The Norman Colchester Castle, constructed over the vaults of the ruined Temple of Claudius

Norman Colchester

See also: Colchester Castle

In the initial twenty years following the

Danish fleet unsuccessfully attacked the east coast of England, failing to take Dover, Sandwich, Ipswich and Norwich, although it appears to have severely damaged Colchester,[5] with a second invasion scare in 1071.[33] At this time (1069 or 1070) the town was given to the control of Eudo Dapifer (also known as Eudo de Rie after his Norman home town).[5][7] The son of Hubert de Rie, he was William the Conqueror's Seneschal of Normandy,[5] later serving the Conqueror's successors William II and Henry I,[7] and owning 64 manors in Eastern England, including 50 houses and 40 acres of land in Colchester.[7] Eudo directed the construction of Colchester Castle (c. 1073 – 1080)[5] on the remains of the Temple of Claudius, as a royal rather than baronial castle,[7] intending it to be at the centre of the defence of Eastern England.[33] Construction on the castle, which is the largest Norman castle ever built and the first stone Keep in England,[5][7] was initially halted in around 1075 and hastily fortified during a rebellion in East Anglia supported by a Danish Fleet,[5] but resumed shortly afterwards to be given to Eudo in 1089.[7] Henry I later renewed this right in 1101, granting the "turrim and castelum" to Eudo in a charter.[7]
Under Eudo the town prospered,[5][7][33] reaching a population of 2,500 (putting it in the middle rank of English towns).[33] The town, and its turbulent history, was described sometime between 1087 and 1100[41] as:

"The city of Colchester is placed in the eastern part of Britain, a city near to a port, pleasantly situated, watered on every side by abundant springs, with a very healthy air, built with very strong walls; a city to be reckoned amongst the most eminent, had not time, fires, floods, incursions of pirates, and various strokes of misfortune obliterated all the monuments of the city."[7]

Eudo endowed the town with several religious institutions. The foremost of these was

King Solomon and The Queen of Sheba (emblematic of the wise judgements of the courts held in the Hall).[5] Other secular buildings made from Roman rubble include the numerous Stone houses built around the town.[31] Many of these 11th-century dwellings were demolished in the 1970s, including one on Lion Walk[18] and one behind what is now the JobCentre.[1] Numerous robber trenches and demolition pits from this period have been found around the town from which the Roman building material for these structures was mined,[1][18] as well as large complexes of lime kilns built from Roman tiles for baking oyster shells to obtain lime for mortar.[1][18]

The town's merchant fleet trade with the continent, with corn shipments from Colchester reported in

King Stephen, although by 1157 this had been reduced to one and to none by 1166.[39] Iron working[18] and pottery production occurred within the town,[5] with a large series of pottery kilns producing Thetford-type ware and early medieval ware found at Mile End and Middleborough.[1] Pottery datable to the Anglo-Norman period is relatively rare in England although not in Colchester.[43] The town's burgesses had developed a corporate identity with established rights and responsibilities before they were enshrined in the 1189 Charter.[40] These privileges included substantial common land grazing rights, fishing rights, the right to hunt foxes, hares and cats, common-ownership of the river bank and the protection of the town's market against unauthorised markets.[40] These last two privileges were unique to Colchester amongst English towns.[40] The townsfolk were also exempt from paying to billet visiting royals and dignitaries, paying Scot, Lot and Danegeld, and could reclaim money paid as tolls at other towns.[39] Together the townspeople held 1,304 acres of land in parcels of 1 to 10 acres,[32] whilst other land and houses in and around the town were owned by the Lords of local manors around Essex.[44] Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk held 30 acres, and a wic at Mile End.[32]

The town hosted

Chicester, and Exeter, the Earl of Leicester, the Earl of Salisbury, Warin FitzGerald (a local Essex lord) and the Lord Chancellor Thomas Becket.[33] Elements of the army to oppose Hugh Bigod's rebellion assembled at Colchester in 1173.[33]

Early medieval history

Colchester was the largest town in Essex throughout the entire Middle Ages and was initially the principal town of the county,

Justices in Eyre from 1218.[33]

In the early 13th century Colchester became embroiled in the First Barons' War. King John, who had visited the town several times in 1204, 1205, 1209, 1212 and 1214,[33] 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.[33] However, later in the year a baronial army attacked and ravaged the town.[33] The town received further royal visits from Henry III in 1242 and 1256, who stayed in his Royal Quarters in the Castle.[33] Several Colchester men were implicated in the baronial conspiracies against him in the 1250s.[33]

The thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries also saw a series of conflicts between the burgesses of the town and St. John's Abbey and several local lords over the infringements of their charter rights. In 1253, following long-standing dispute over access to the free warren in West Donyland and the extent of the Abbot's jurisdiction, a group of forty Colcestrians attacked and destroyed the Abbey's

Plantagenets,[41] when they began trespassing and hunting on Baron Robert FitzWalter's private estates as well as contesting the extent of his jurisdiction and control of pastureland.[33] In 1319 a group of 174 Colcestrians attacked servants and tenants of Essex lord Hugh de Neville who was gathering supplies and men for the Scottish war, and in 1324 attacked John Dagworth Lord of Bradwell who was again attempting to raise men and arms.[33] When Edward II was deposed in 1327 in the wake of the Scottish wars there was rioting and faction-squabbles in the town.[33]

Further local disputes with the Lexden FitzWalters occurred in 1342, when a Lexden man was killed in an argument at Mile End to the north of the town; Lord John FitzWalter believed that the Colchester coroner would be biased in favour of the Colcestrian defendants, and so called on the County coroner at Chelmsford to conduct the enquiry which in turn angered the townsfolk who saw the intervention of the County coroner as an infringement of their Charter rights.

Maldon.[33] The violence increased when the FitzWalters blockaded the town between 20 May and 22 June until they were bought off with £40 by the town.[33] But the following year the situation deteriorated again, and so John FitzWalter once again besieged the town between 7 April and 1 June 1343 before being paid off with a further £40.[33] A few years later in 1349 Lionel of Bradenham, Lord of Langenhoe and a friend and tenant of John FitzWalter, began constructing six weirs in arms of the River Colne which obstructed fish movements (infringing the burgesses' charter-enshrined right to the River bank and fish stocks).[33] The resulting dispute with the town led to him besieging it between August and November 1350, damaging Colchester's eastern suburbs and taking grain and hay from Greenstead, before he was bought off with £20.[33] Lionel began illegally placing piles in the Colne in 1360, which led to the town excluding Langenhoe men from Colchester's markets.[33] He was successfully prosecuted by the burgesses of Colchester in 1362.[33]

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. John's Abbey by the time it began to die down in August 1349.[7] A second bout struck the town in 1360–61.[33] The plague had struck England in the middle of the Hundred Years' War, to which Colchester had sent five ships and 170 mariners to aid in the blockade of Calais in 1347–48.[7]

Late medieval history

Despite the destruction caused by the Black Death the town entered a period of growth spurred by the cloth trade from the mid-14th century onwards,[7][33] with 22 people admitted into the ranks of the burgesses every year in the 1350s during which time Edward III visited the town in 1354.[33] By 1377 Colchester's population had reached 7,000, placing it Eighth in rank of English provincial towns,[7] increasing to its medieval maximum of 9,000 by the early 15th century.[33] Immigrants into the town came from across Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, London, Bristol, Gloucester, Ludlow, Canterbury, Sandwich, Manchester, Yorkshire, Kent, Wales, Ireland, Calais and later (foreshadowing the large-scale immigration in the 16th century)[7] from the Low Countries.[39] The first burgess to be explicitly stated as being Flemish was in 1451, although Flemish names occur in the town from much earlier.[7][39]

Colchester was one of the centres of the

King Richard survivors flooded into the town, taking their anger out on Colchester's sizeable Flemish population.[33] Following the attack by the disgruntled peasants on the abbey its walls and gatehouse were strengthened.[33]

The disputes between the townsfolk and the abbey continued into the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Twelve armed men from the abbey were involved in a fight with townspeople outside of Colkynge's Castle (modern Balkerne Gate) in 1391 over grazing rights to the meadows in the area.

Jack Cade's rebellion in 1449 and 1450.[33]

Colchester avoided the fighting of the

Edward IV and Richard III's mother Cecily Neville who left a large sum to the abbey in her will.[41] By the end of the Middle Ages Colchester's population had begun to decline with the shrinking of the medieval cloth trade to about 5,000 by 1520, placing it eleventh in size of English provincial towns.[7]

The medieval town

Borough governance

Colchester received its first town charter in 1189 from

Moot Hall.[40] The charter also defined the qualifications needed to obtain full burgess status; this was that a burgess had to have been born in the town, or had to have served an existing burgess of the town as an apprentice for at least seven years, or had paid for the status with a large fee.[7]

The burgesses' rights included:[7]

  • The sole right to all of the fish and shellfish in the River Colne between North Bridge and Westernesse
  • The right of access to the Colne River bank
  • The right to travel in the borough without tolls, fees or hindrances
  • The right to graze the commons between August and February every year
  • The right to hunt foxes, hares and cats (polecats)
  • They could claim a share of the town's corporate income obtained through fees, licence-payments, tolls, rents and fines
  • Permitted to vote on specified matters

This was altered over time; for example Edward II removed the townsfolk's right to disdain from debt accrued in other counties,

coat of arms of Colchester. Henry VI's charter extended the liberty of the borough to include the previously independent vills of Lexden, Greenstead, Mile End and West Donyland.[40] An attempt in 1447 to take the rights to the Colne away from the burgesses and give it to the Earl of Oxford was blocked by the town.[39]

The government of the borough was conducted through a group of officials, whose number, role and electoral procedures altered over the course of the Middle Ages as political, demographic and economic changes affected the town.[40] The officers and aldermen wore red hoods and gowns as a sign of their position.[33] Originally the two highest officials were reeves, later replaced by two bailiffs who were royal officers charged with collecting the fee farm for parliament and holding the borough courts, as well as taking the role of coroners when needed.[40] Their position as royal officers put them at odds with the interest of the burgesses, and in many English towns the role of mayor was created as a counterbalance to their influence; this creation of a mayoral office did not occur in Colchester however, and the two bailiffs continued to act as the borough's chief officers.[40] Elections for the bailiffs took place on 8 September (the Nativity of Mary), and they took office on Michaelmas.[40] By the 13th century the bailiffs and coroners were separated, and the coroners were usually the bailiffs-elect for the following year.[40] Further offices included the town clerk, the farmer of the tolls responsible for collecting the town's due, two to three under-bailiffs to assist the main bailiffs, key keepers to take over from the bailiffs the responsibility of guarding the town's common chest, and from 1310 three (from 1380 four) serjeants to take tolls and keep the peace.[40] The serjeants and town clerk were elected on the 9 September.[40]

With the growth of the town after the Black Death of the mid-14th century the borough government also developed, aided by a growing distrust of the bailiff's powers.[40] In 1372 a new system was brought into effect, with tighter election processes for the bailiffs and two new officials initially called receivers but later chamberlains, responsible for the town's income.[40] The town was divided into four wards: North Ward (the north west quarter of the town), East Ward (the north east), South Ward (south east) and Head Ward (the south west quarter of the town).[41] The leading burgess of each ward chose five other burgesses from his ward to create an overall borough council of 24, from whom the town's officials and board of eight auditors (the aldermen) were chosen.[40] This council and its officials were designed as a counterbalance to the bailiffs, who had previously ruled without referring to a common council of burgesses.[40] The bailiffs and the council's board of aldermen elected 16 men from the four wards to form a second council, which convened four times a year.[40] Further changes occurred in 1447, when a common council was created from four men from each of the four wards, from which the aldermen were to be elected, who in turn would elect four J.P.s to hear Crown Courts, the coroners and the keykeepers.[40]

From 1295 onwards two Members of Parliament represented the town, who were also chosen from amongst the town's leading burgesses, although due to the financial cost involved this was not a popular office to hold.[40] The local Lords were represented in the House of Lords, as was the Abbot of St John's Abbey.[41]

Law

Jury courts met fortnightly at the Moot Hall, and at three other major hearings on Michaelmas, Hilary and Hock Days, called law hundreds where

Arthurian romance Le Morte d'Arthur, was imprisoned in Colchester Castle in October 1454 for crimes including horse theft.[48]

Other Councils and Courts

Aside from the main council and courts in the Moot Hall there were several others in the town. By 1411 a special court to hear cases concerning non-burgesses in the borough liberty called the foreign court was held.[40] In 1477 the town was exempted from the Admiralty court, although it still seems to have been held at the Hythe after this time.[40] The Ecclesiastical institutions also had their own courts. St John's Abbey had its own courts and gallows at its estate in Greenstead.[41] In 1414 the court of the Prior of St Botolph's Priory was indicted for overstepping its authority.[40]

Colchester's medieval Jewish community also had its own council and Beth din.[39][49] They had their own bailiff by 1220 (the first was Benedict, father of Isaac),[39] and a council chamber granted to them by Henry II in the suburban area of St John's Green, although by 1251 the Abbey of St John had ownership of this and had turned it into a Christian chapel.[39]

Religious institutions

See also:
Colchester churches; St John's Abbey, Colchester; and St Botolph's Priory
The Pardon Door of 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

Franciscan Greyfriars, founded by 1237 within the town walls on what is now the west end of East Hill.[41] The Friary, part of the Wardenship of Cambridge, was a large building whose spire was the tallest structure in the medieval town.[41] A fourth monastic institution was the Crossed (also spelt Crouched) Friars on Crouch Street, an Augustinian order separate from those at St Botolph's Priory.[41] They had taken control in 1496 of the Chapel of the Holy Cross, a hospital on the junction of Maldon Road and Crouch Street.[41] A fifth monastic institution, and a second hospital, was St Mary Magdalene's on Magdalene Road on the way to the Hythe port.[41] This was under the nominal control of St John's Abbey, against whom the hospital struggled for independence in the 14th century, including enlisting the aid of Parliament.[41] There were two other medieval hospitals connected to the town, St Catherine's somewhere outside of Head Gate, and St Anne's on Harwich Road,[33] which was the site of a Holy Well.[41] The town had several parish churches; St Mary-at-the-Walls (often called Our Lady-at-the-Walls),[41] St Peter's, St Runwald's, St Martin's, St Nicholas', St James the Great's, All Saints/All Hallows, Holy Trinity, St Leonards-at-the-Hythe, and the chapel of St Helena.[5][41] The castle contained a chapel,[5] and the town also contained small chantry chapels.[41]

There were numerous guilds in the town which were associated with specific churches. The largest of these was the Guild of St Helena, who took their prestige from having the

St Helena, as their own patron.[44] The guild had been given the responsibility in 1407 by Henry IV of taking over the dilapidated Hospital of the Holy Cross, although they were pushed out of this in 1496 by the arrival of the Crossed Friars who spuriously claimed that they had originally owned the hospital.[41]

Other guilds included:[44]

  • St Mary's Guild at the church of St Leonards-at-the-Hythe, who maintained an Eternal Light for St Mary in the church
  • Jesus Guild at St Peters church from 1447, who maintained the building through money obtained from ownership of Chiswell Meadow outside the south-east walls of the town
  • A John the Baptist Guild, also at St Peters
  • Corpus Christi Guild at St Nicholas church
  • St Anne's Guild, who maintained St Anne's chapel and hospital on Harwich Road
  • Saint Mary, St Crispin and St Crispian Guilds at Greyfriars
  • St Barbara Guild at All Saints church
  • A second St Barbara Guild at St Peters
  • St Francis Guild at St James church

Colchester also hosted members of the heretical Christian

Lollard sect, who held secret congregations in the town.[44]

Aside from the Christian institutions, the town also had a Jewish rabbi and synagogue in the 13th century. In 1258 a rabbi called Samuel, son of Jechiel is recorded,[39] whilst others are recorded later in the 1260s and 1270s.[39] A synagogue existed in 1268 somewhere on either West or East Stockwell Street, later moving by 1285 to a solar in a house at the west end of the High Street.[39] The medieval Jewish community in Colchester suffered the same fate as those elsewhere in England when they were expelled by King Edward I's Edict of Expulsion in 1290.[39]

Economy of medieval Colchester

Colchester functioned as the main market town for the villages and townships of North East Essex and South West Suffolk throughout the Middle Ages.[33] The local trade in grain, fish, cattle and sheep, as well as by-products such as beer, bread, wool, cloth, milk, cheese, butter, leather and meat was focused on the town,[39] and were exported to other markets at Ipswich, Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn.[39]

As well as its role as a local market, Colchester was also part of a wider network of trade routes in other goods. Colchester pottery, from kilns such as those excavated by archaeologists at Middleborough, Mile End and along Magdalene Street,

floor tiles were also made at kilns in the town and at nearby Wivenhoe.[1][29]

However, it was the wool trade from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries which occupied much of the town's population.

fulling mill was recorded in the borough,[39] and the russet woollen and linen cloths produced in the 13th century were sold at fairs in Ipswich and Boston,[39] with Henry III buying Colchester russets to clothe his servants in 1248.[39] However, it was the decades after the Black Death in 1348–49, when Colchester experienced large scale immigration from across Britain and the Low Countries, which saw the greatest boom in the wool trade for the town.[39] Colchester's wool industry benefitted from the fact there was initially no regulatory guild for the weavers and fullers,[39] with wool and dyes from across North East Essex and South West Suffolk, and even from markets at York, Southampton, Lewes and Westminster, coming into the town to be processed.[39] Each bale of cloth could represent the work of up to fifty people from in and around Colchester,[7] including shepherds, wool staplers, carders, wool combers, spinners, dyers, weavers, fullers, roughers, shearers, pressers and merchants.[7] The town was surrounded by watermills used in the fulling process, with Lexden Mill (on the Colne North of Lexden), North Mill (to the west of North Bridge), New Mill (somewhere near North Bridge), Middle Mill (the main mill of the town), Stokes Mill (between Middle Mill and East Mill), East Mill (at East Bridge), Hythe Mill, Mill-in-the-Woods (possibly the same structure as Hythe Mill), Canwick Mill, Bourne Mill (the last two were on the Bourne Brook south of the walled town) and Hull Mill being especially close to the town.[41]

At its peak, Colchester was exporting 40,000 bales of cloth annually, specialising in grey-brown russet cloth.

Mediterranean, Sweden, Prussia, Gascony, Spain, and later in the 15th century to the German Hanseatic League, especially Cologne.[39] Colchester's main trade partner outside England was Bruges, to which cloth, wool and dyes (as well as grain, butter and cheese) were exported in exchange for more exotic products such as wine, spices, saffron, nuts, furs, salt, soap, bitumen, ginger, garlic, pepper and silk.[39] Customs officials from London and Ipswich would cocket the sacks of wool and cloth, whilst seven local officials aided the King's serjeant-at-arms in searching ships for uncustomed woollen products.[39] The wool trade in the town began to change in the 15th century, with the creation in 1407 of two Masters of the Weaver's Art, and in 1411–12 the creation by the town bailiffs of new laws to protect and regulate the cloth industry.[39] These included the standardisation of weights, a requirement that all spinning was to be carried out within the borough, that weavers were not to be paid with food or merchandise instead of coin, that a person could not be a weaver and a fuller, no apprentice was to serve less than five years, and that all disputes were to be solved by the two Masters.[39] A separate fullers guild was also permitted by the town bailiffs, with two Masters to be elected annually on the Monday after Michaelmas at St Cross Church and to swear oaths of office before the presence of the bailiffs.[39] However, by the second half of the 15th century war and depopulation in the Baltic states and France had caused a severe decline in trade with those regions, resulting in a large contraction of the wool trade in Colchester despite the continued presence of Hanseatic merchants in the town.[39] Despite the shrinking of the medieval wool trade, the cloth industry in Colchester would boom again to even greater heights during the second half of the 16th century and into the 17th century.[7]

Other industries were also present in the town. During the 14th century the leather working industry employed almost as many people as the cloth industry did, although this too declined in the later 14th century.

Lord Howard's clock in 1482, the clock at Ramsey, and at Saffron Walden in 1461.[41] Some of the richer members of Colchester's Jewish population were involved in moneylending, which was forbidden to Christians.[39][49] This made them a scapegoat in hard times causing them to favour living in sturdy stone-built houses, such as the two owned by a man called "Aaron the Jew" in the 12th century.[5] However, most of the Jewish community in Colchester were poor in comparison to others around Essex and East Anglia.[39]

Layout of the medieval town

Colchester in 1500

Medieval Colchester had developed from the Saxon town, which in turn had grown within the shell of the old Roman town of Camulodunum.[5] Most of the town was located within the old Roman walls, although suburbs along the main routes out of the town developed during the Middle Ages.[41]

Intramural features

Most of the medieval town was located within the town walls, which were originally the walls of the Roman town.[41] The walls were further strengthened in the Middle Ages by the addition of bastion towers around the southern portion of the walls, which took place in either 1312 or during an extensive repair of the walls in 1382–1421.[31] To the ire of the town officials, the walls were sometimes the target of illegal quarrying of building stone by the townspeople.[31][41] Of the original six Roman gates, two (Balkerne Gate and Duncan's Gate) had been blocked up, probably in the 4th century.[5] This left Hed Gate (modern Head Gate) as the main entrance to the town (hence its name),[41] with North Gate, Suth Gate (modern South Gate) and Est Gate (modern East Gate) as the remaining Roman gateways.[41] In addition, four new gates were cut through the town walls during the Middle Ages. These are Ryegate (meaning River Gate, sometimes called Northsherd, the modern Ryegate Street), le Posterne (modern St Marys Steps next to the Arts Centre), Scheregate (modern Scheregate Steps) and a small Postern gate somewhere in the south-east corner of the town walls.[41] The gates were frequently in a state of disrepair.[41]

Through Hed Gate was Hed Strete (modern Head Street), which followed the old north–south

Cardo maximus of the Roman town,[41] continuing on as North Strete (modern North Hill) out of the North Gate.[41] Two small lanes (the modern Church Street and Church Walk) led west from Hed Strete to St Mary-at-the-Walls church, a small chapel to St Andrew and Colchester's medieval school house.[41] Next to St Marys was le Posterne, which was made by widening an existing Roman drain in the walls to create a foot passageway out of the town onto Balkerne Lane.[1] At the south end of North Strete sat St Peters church, whose churchyard contained a large stone cross and a large stone marker of some kind.[41]

Running east from Hed Strete was the other main street in the town, High Strete (modern High Street), which roughly followed the old

Louis XVIII during their visits to the town.[1] Other Inns on the High Strete included the George (which still stands as a hotel and public house under the same name), and the Angel (at junction of High Strete and West Stockwell Strete, also called Angel Lane after the Inn).[41] The Bell Inn stood to the west of St Nicholas church, and housed part of the vegetable market.[41] The Swan Inn and Hart Inn stood somewhere on the west end of the High Strete, near Helle Lane (possibly the modern Bank Passage between High Street and Culver Street West).[41] The churches of St Nicholas and All Saints still stand on the south side of the High Strete at its eastern end,[41] whilst the church of St Runwalds, which stood in the middle of the market, was demolished in the 19th century.[5] 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.[41]

The Red Lion, built by John Howard in the late 15th century

The High Strete continued east to Est Gate (modern East Gate) as Frere Strete (modern East Hill), so called because the Franciscan Greyfriars stood on its north side, opposite the church of St James-the-Greats on the south side of the street.

alms houses for the poor from 1481/2 onwards.[41] Connecting Elde Lane, Culver Strete and High Strete were three north–south streets, Catte Lane (modern Lion Walk), Wyre Lane (modern Long Wyre Street) and Trinity Lane (modern Trinity Street) where Holy Trinity church stands.[41] The junction of Catte Lane and High Strete is where John Howard built his house that would later become the Red Lion.[32]

To the north of High Strete ran three north–south streets, West Stockwell Strete, Est Stockwell Strete and Maidenburgh Strete (the modern West and East Stockwell Streets and Maidenburgh Street respectively).[41] These streets were Saxon in origin, leading down to the old Stockwell public well.[5] St Martins church stood on West Stockwell Strete, which was also home to Colchester's cobblers,[32] whilst St Helena's Chapel stood on Maidenburgh Strete, on the corner of Elyn Lane (modern St Helens Lane).[41] The south end of Maidenburgh Strete, where it joins High Strete, was an open market space taking up the area between modern Madienburgh Street, George Street and the east end of Williams Walk.[41] These streets headed north down to what is now Northgate Street, where the Ryegate gave access to Middle Mill.[7] The Castle sat with its associated buildings in the castle Bailey, surrounded by the bank and ditch defences, on the north side of the High Strete.[1] The castle was the County Jail for most of the Middle Ages, with most dignitaries choosing to stay at St John's Abbey from the 14th century onwards.[41]

The houses and buildings along the street fronts were

timber framed, and usually consisted of a main hall and several side rooms, with ovens, wells and yards.[31] Locally made roof tile, louvers and Flemish-style glazed floor tiles were in many of the larger houses.[29][31] Behind the street fronts were large yards and cultivation plots, as well as industrial features such as metal casting pits and lime kilns.[1] A feature of the medieval town were burgates, enclosed urban estates attached to some of the larger dwellings.[32] As well as around 13 inns, the town also contained around 15–20 taverns.[41]
this cross roads was located the Bull Inn, which is still in existence as Colchester's oldest public house,[41] and St Catherine's Hospital.[32] The road to London was Croucherche Strete (modern Crouch Street), named after the Crouched Friars priory and Hospital of St Cross on the south-west corner of the junction with Maldone Lane (modern Maldon Road).[41] Opposite the priory was an Inn called the Saracen's Head and an elaborate wayside cross.[41] Croucherche Strete continued eastwards as Gutter Strete (modern St John's Street) where it met a cross-roads outside of Scheregate.[41] Scheregate gave more direct access to the town for St John's Abbey and St John's Green via Lodders Lane (modern Abbey Gate Street) and Stanwell Strete (modern Stanwell Street).[41] The abbey precinct, surrounded on the east, north and west sides by a wall which enclosed St Giles church, the abbey building itself and several smaller buildings, including the Abbot's house.[41] Gutter Strete continued east to the cross-roads outside of Suth Gate as Bere Lane (modern Vineyard Street), which was one of the poorest districts in the town.[41] Bere Lane took its name from the Berehalle (Bear Hall, a bear and bull baiting arena) located on its southern side.[41] The road was also home to medieval Colchester's licensed brothels and stew houses (bath house/brothel buildings), and medieval tennis courts.[41] The area kept its reputation as the Red-light district of Colchester until the end of the Victorian era, when the houses along what is now Vineyard carpark were demolished in a slum clearance, and the roads name was changed to the more innocuous sounding Vineyard Street.[41] Bere Lane met Botolph Strete (modern St Botolph's Street) outside of the Suth Gate, which became the main road south out of the town to Mersea Island.[41] St Botolph's Priory stood in its precinct behind the street front on the east side of the road, whilst the east precinct wall of St John's Abbey lay against its west side.[29]

Along Botolph Strete's east side lay Hog Lane (also Grub Strete), which ran east to become Magdaleyne Strete (modern Magdalene Street and Barrack Street), the main road to the Hythe port, and another branch road to Rowhedge (modern Military Road).[41] Magdaleyne Strete was named after the Hospital of St Mary Magdaleyne, which stood on the junction between Magdaleyne Strete and Brook Strete (modern Brook Street).[5] This latter street took its name from the Lose Brook in the valley between Magdaleyne Strete and the town walls, a stream which arose at the Stanwell (Stone Well) on St John's Green before travelling east through the precinct of St Botolph's Priory and then across the mores (uncultivated land) to the south east of the town before emptying into the Colne near Est Bregge (East Bridge).[41] This brook was used by the medieval cloth workers who lived at St John's Green and along Botolph Strete.[32] Running around the outside of the south-east corner of the town was More Strete (modern Priory Street), named after the mores around it.[41] A small lane ran across these mores from More Strete to Brook Strete called More Elm Lane, named after the Elm Trees that lined it.[41]

More Strete connected Botolph Strete with Est Strete (modern East Street), which exited the town at Est Gate before crossing the Colne at Est Brugge (East Bridge).[41] The community along Est Strete was one of the poorest in the town after Bere Lane, and was home to several unlicensed brothels.[41] There was a mill at Est Brugge and small jetties on the river bank.[32] Across the Est Brugge there stood a stone wayside cross at the point where the Est Strete divided into the main roads to Ipswich and Harwich (modern Ipswich and Harwich Roads respectively).[41] Outside of North Gate ran the main road to Myland (Mile End) and Sudbury, with the suburbs of Myddelburgh (Middleborough) located on this road between North Gate and Northbregge (North Bridge).[41] Myddelburgh and Myland contained pottery and louver kilns.[31]

The medieval Hythe port

Magdaleyne Strete led from Colchester and connected the town to the Hythe, and by the 14th century houses extended from the Hythe all the way up to St Mary Magdalene hospital.[32] The road into the Hythe was called Hethstrete (modern Hythe Hill), and had a wayside cross at some point along it.[41] Although physically separate from the main part of the town proper, the Hythe was legally part of the town.[32] The Hythe had a foot bridge in place of the old ford by 1407 to reach the east bank of the Colne, which in 1473–74 was replaced by the Stonebregge (Stone Bridge)[41] to give access to the village of Greenstead. However, all of the structures at the Hythe were located on its west bank,[32] which included cranes (some of the earliest recorded in England), warehouses, boat building sheds, at least one mill and brew houses (which used the raw water from the Colne for brewing).[41] The river between the Hythe and Wivenhoe had been straightened in the early 14th century,[32] but most large ships could not fit along the river to the Hythe, and so instead alighted their cargo at Brightlingsea close to the Colne Estuary, from where it was taken to the Hythe in smaller boats.[39] Owing to this role as Colchester's surrogate port Brightlingsea subsequently became a member of the medieval Cinque Ports alliance.[51] The Hythe was the richest parish in the town due to its port and river trade,[32] and had its own small market for fish and bread.[41] The Hythe saw a slight increase in trade through the second half of the 14th century, which has been linked to a decline in Ipswich's port from the 1330s into the 15th century.[39] However, by the late 15th century the amount of revenue taken as river toll was down due to a contraction in overseas trade,[32] and most shipping was done through London.[39]

Dutch Quarter

Between 1550 and 1600, a large number of

Tudor
period. During this period Colchester was one of the most prosperous wool towns in England.

Between 1796 and 1810

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.[53]

Siege of Colchester

Main article: Siege of Colchester

In 1648, Colchester was thrown into the thick of the

St. John's Abbey were partially destroyed and the inhabitants were reduced to eating candles and boots. When the Royalists surrendered in the late summer, Lucas and Lisle were shot in the grounds of Colchester Castle
. The spot is marked by an obelisk today and there is a myth that no grass will grow in this area (it has since been covered with tarmac to make sure.)

Plague

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".[55] By the time he wrote this in 1722, however, he estimated its population (including "out-villages") to have risen to around 40,000.

Colchester earthquake

Main article: 1884 Colchester earthquake

At around 9:20 in the morning of 22 April 1884 the Colchester area was at the epicentre of the UK's most destructive earthquake, estimated to have been 5.2 on the

Richter Scale
, and lasting for about 20 seconds. The quake was felt over much of southern England and into Europe, and over 1,200 buildings were destroyed or damaged.

pounds sterling. Great damage was also reported in Wivenhoe and Ipswich, and buildings destroyed included Langenhoe church. The death of a child at Rowhedge
was also reported.

A copy of the Report on the East Anglian Earthquake of April 22, 1884 can be found in the Colchester local library.

Oyster Feast

Main article: Oyster Feast

The Oyster Feast is the centrepiece of the Colchester's annual civic calendar. The feast celebrates the "Colchester Natives" (the native

Moot Hall
.

Colchester Army Garrison

Main article: Colchester Garrison

The Colchester Garrison has been an important military base since the Roman era. The first permanent military garrison in Colchester was established by the

First World War several battalions of Kitchener's Army
were trained there. Today, there are considerable plans to build a new and modern barracks out of the town to free up building land in the centre and replace the Victorian buildings. There are hopes that some of the original architecture will be conserved for heritage.

Colchester Town Watch

Colchester Town Watch was founded in 2001 to provide a ceremonial guard for the mayor of Colchester and for the town for civic events.

A self-financed body of volunteers, the Watch is convened under the auspices of the Statutes of Winchester of 1253. This statute was introduced to provide for some sort of law and order, and created the first police force in the UK. Today's Watch, of course, are a purely ceremonial body, leaving law and order to the Essex Constabulary.[56]

The Watch's livery is based on late Elizabethan dress, and is in the town colours of red and green. The Watch wear crested morions, back and breastplates, and carry either partizans or half-pikes when on duty. The Captain has the privilege of wearing Elizabethan "civvies".

A fine and colourful (in every sense) body of persons, the Watch provide a link with Colchester history at many civic events. Their day is, however, the Marching Watches. On the Saturday closest to the Vigil of St. John The Baptist, the watch "walk the walls" completing a circuit of Colchester's town wall (the oldest in Britain, with parts dating back to Roman times), a "beating the bounds" type ceremony, establishing the territory they protect. A distance of some 3 kilometers, it finishes in a local hostelry, The Foresters Arms, so that the Watch may refresh themselves. They are accompanied by Mayors past and present, such civic dignitaries as may wish to attend, and anyone else who cares to join in.

Colchester Co-op

Main article:
Colchester co-op

The Colchester and East Essex Co-operative Society was founded in 1861. Today the society is the largest independent retail chain in the region with a net asset value of £65 million.

Paxman

Engine manufacturer Paxman has been associated with Colchester since 1865 when James Noah Paxman founded a partnership with the brothers Henry and Charles Davey ('Davey, Paxman, and Davey') and opened the Standard Ironworks at a location in the town centre. In 1876 James Paxman obtained a site on Hythe Hill and the company moved to the "New" Standard Ironworks.

In 1925 Paxman produced its first spring injection oil engine and joined the English Electric Diesel Group in 1966 – later becoming part of GEC. Since the 1930s the Paxman company's main business has been the production of diesel engines. Paxman engines are world-famous. They are used in fast naval patrol craft, submarines, and high-speed trains. At its peak, the Paxman works covered 23 acres (93,000 m2) and employed over 2,000 people.

Paxman became part of MAN Diesel in 2000. In 2003 the company announced proposals to transfer manufacturing to Stockport. Production was wound down, and what was to be the last production engine to be built in Colchester was completed on 15 September 2003. However, the Stockport plant proved unable to manufacture the popular VP185 efficiently, and thus in 2005, production resumed in Colchester.

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