If you visit anywhere in
Essex, it should be COLCHESTER , an agreeable town with
a castle, a university and a large army base, fifty miles or
so northeast of London. More than anything else, Colchester
prides itself on being England's oldest town and there is documentary
evidence of a settlement here as early as the fifth century BC.
By the first century AD, the town was the region's capital and
when the Romans invaded Britain in 43 AD they chose Colchester
(Camulodunum) as their new capital, though it was soon eclipsed
by London, becoming a retirement colony for legionaries instead.
A millennium later, the conquering Normans built one of their
mightiest strongholds in Colchester, but the conflict that most
marked the town was the Civil War. In 1648, Colchester was subjected
to a gruelling siege by the Parliamentarian army led by Lord
Fairfax; after three months, during which the population ate
every living creature within the walls, the town finally surrendered
and the Royalist leaders were promptly executed for their pains.
Today, Colchester makes
a good base for further explorations of the surrounding countryside
- particularly the Stour valley towns of Constable country, within
easy reach to the north .
Most visitors start off
at the town's rugged, honey-coloured Castle , the perfect introduction
to Colchester's long history, set in attractive parkland, which
stretches down to the River Colne. Begun less than ten years
after the Battle of Hastings, it boasts a phenomenally large
keep - the largest in Europe at the time - built on the site
of the defunct Roman temple. The castle's museum (Mon-Sat 10am-5pm,
Sun 11am-5pm) contains the best of the region's Romano-British
archeological finds, although, apart from a fine bronze of Mercury,
the messenger of the gods, this amounts to little more than a
smattering of coins, tombstones, statues and mosaics. The museum
also covers the Boudicca revolt and the 1648 siege, and you can
sign up for a guided tour of the underground tunnels (45min),
which give access to the foundations of the Roman temple and
the Norman chapel and walls - parts not otherwise accessible
to regular visitors. Outside, down towards the river in Castle
Park is a section of the old Roman walls , whose battered remains
are still visible around much of the town centre.
The castle stands at the
eastern end of the wide, and largely pedestrianized, High Street
, which lies pretty much along the same route as it did in Roman
times. The most arresting building here is the flamboyant Town
Hall , built in 1902 and topped by a statue of St Helena, mother
of Constantine the Great and daughter of "Old King Cole"
of nursery-rhyme fame - after whom, some say, the town was named.
Immediately north of the High Street is the so-called Dutch Quarter
, where Flemish refugees settled in the sixteenth century giving
a boost to the town's ailing cloth trade. The area's lofty buildings
still make this a pleasant place to stroll, particularly along
West and East Stockwell streets. South of the High Street, much
of the medieval street plan has been subsumed within a vast open-air
shopping precinct, complete with three separate indoor shopping
centres and an open-air market held every Friday and Saturday
in Vineyard Street.
With a little time to spare,
it's worth strolling down East Hill , a continuation of the High
Street east of the castle. Splendid Georgian houses line the
top end of the hill, one of which - opposite the tourist office
- is now the Hollytrees Museum (Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 11am-5pm;
free), containing a modest collection of costumes, toys, domestic
items, trade implements and decorative arts from the eighteenth
to the twentieth century. Over the road at the Minories (April-Sept
Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 11am-5pm; rest of year closed Sun; free)
another Georgian exterior conceals a contemporary arts centre,
with a changing exhibition programme, a garden and a great café.
Just along the street, Priory Galleries sells the work of local
artists, and is well worth a look.
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