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Home , AD 60, Camulodunum

The evidence of this is easy g 7. The Romano-Christian Church - The earliest to find in the walls of the known Christian church in Britain, sited at the centre of a castle that the huge Roman period graveyard at Southway, next to the Police built around the podium of Station. Roman the once magnificent Temple of , and in 8. The Romano-British Defensive our many churches and heritage buildings. Dyke System - Started by the Iron-Age British pe o p l e and continued to be maintained and enhanced into the As a result, apart from a Roman period. See the map for general locations. Unique in huge number of Britain. A CITY GUIDE

archaeological finds in our museums, evidence of 9. Roman Finds at - Our In or around the year AD 40, Roman Colchester is award winning Castle Museum and Park are essential places King Cunobelin, leader of the a limited. We hope that this for visitors to visit. The park has examples of Roman most powerful of the British leaflet will guide you to pavements, walls, drains, etc. The museum offers a huge tribes, died. His death resulted where that evidence is to be collection of Roman period finds. in a power struggle over who found. should succeed him. Under 10. Guided Tours - Please ask at the Visitor Information pressure from Cunobelin's Please take the Colchester Centre for information about guided tours, located at the top sons, , king of the Roman Trail with us and of Queen Street, next to the War Memorial, tel 01206 282920. , called upon visit the various places marked on our maps, as follows: for help. List of Illustrations 1. The Balkerne Gate - The best preserved Roman The Romans seized this long gateway in Britain; built as one of the several gateways into the a. Bronze bust thought to be of the Emperor Claudius, found awaited opportunity and, walled , after the destruction of Queen Boadicea in AD in a river and presumed to be part of a much larger statue. under the direction of the 60. Close by the Jumbo water tower. b. 'The Balkerne Gate' as it might have looked circa AD 80. Emperor Claudius, the c. Stele (tombstone) of a Thracian cavalry soldier named Romans invaded Britain. They 2. THe Roman Wall - the oldest Roman wall in Britain Longinus Sdapeze who died in circa AD 50 crossed the channel and made their way to the most powerful completed circa AD 90 and 2800 metres long, 6 metres high, (in the Castle Museum). settlement in Britain, a place known as Camulodunom (now 2.4 metres thick. A walk around the walls is to be d. Model of how it is believed the Temple of Claudius would known as Colchester). Here they accepted the surrender of a recommended. have looked circa AD 55, it being later destroyed by number of British tribal leaders and set about the task of Boadicca. conquering and subduing the rest of Britannia. 3. The Temple of Claudius - Built to the glory of the e. A funerary 'face' urn, found intact in a 'box' grave and now Emperor Claudius circa AD 50, later to be destroyed by in the Castle Museum. Within a short time they had constructed a fortress on a nearby Boudicca, but rebuilt again. Its foundations can be visited f. 'The Colchester Vase'. A remarkable piece of Roman hillside, overlooking the British people of Camulodunum (the underneath our Norman castle. pottery depicting named of the time and now in Romanised spelling of the name) who lived on low lying ground, the Castle Museum. near rivers and fresh springs, particularly in the modern day areas 4. The - The only known Roman circus g. Stele of a Roman named known as Sheepen and Gosbecks. in Britain, 440 metres long, 8 starting gates seating for 15,000, Marcus Favonius Facilis who died in Camulodunum circa AD 100. identified in 2004. During warmer months, open to visitors at b Roman Circus House, accessed via Butt Road. We gratefully acknowledge the permissions 5. The Roman Theatre of the Colonia from the Colchester Archaeological Trust and - to be seen in Maidenburgh Street. Mr Peter Froste, for the use here of some of their illustrations. 6. The Roman Theatre and the Romano-Celtic Temple at Gosbecks - www.camulos.com both to be found at Gosbecks to the south of the town, on the ©2015 Maldon Road. Easy parking for cars.

Some 17 years after the very orderly street system with houses, d Roman invasion however, industry and government buildings. in the year AD 60, the peace was shattered when ....and, of course, in so doing they also Sheepen Queen Boudicca brought us such things as underfloor (Boadicea), widow of King heating, industry, art and culture, of the , so sanitation, roads, irrigation, clean water, outraged by her treatment medicine, education, wine, olives, baths, after her husband's death, law and order, peace - and possibly an assembled a huge army and aqueduct. Balkerne headed south, seemingly e bent on murder and destruction, razing Colchester to the ground ------and killing 30,000 (according to the Roman historian ) This leaflet shows you where you can go to see the remains people, perhaps 7,000 of our Colchester inhabitants. She then of our incredible Roman heritage. Please remember that the continued on to destroy all things Roman and, in particular, Normans who arrived here in the 11th century found a decayed The Roman colonia at Camulodunum showing () and (). city of a bygone age. As had the Romans before them, they the walls, the street layout, and the various quickly realised that there is no natural points of interest, circa AD 200. Never again would the Romans be so unprepared and so, from building stone in this part of . But they around AD 70 they began the construction of what was to become found plenty of building materials left lying circus the longest Roman settlement defensive wall in Britain, some 2800 around that could be used. So they, in turn, metres long, around the colonia (a city by any other name). set about very efficiently destroying Roman Colchester, using the decayed Roman building materials to construct their new city. Over the next few centuries, until circa AD 410, when Roman f protection ended, Camulodunum evolved into a thriving Roman We can only guess at how the British people felt about the situation. city, no longer the capital, as There was certainly some resistance to Roman rule, yet they were Londinium with its better forced to accept the peace and order that it brought. Their lands position for trade and transport were being taken to give to the new colonia's occupants. However, soon overtook Camulodunum in they were powerless to prevent it. importance – but clearly still a place of great importance and A triumphal arch was erected by the Roman conquerors, to the glory Roman culture. of the Emperor Claudius at the place we now know as Balkerne Gate. The fortress was short lived, probably because the British The Romans constructed here, people quickly settled down to a peaceful way of life, and the hill top two theatres (there are only five area was expanded into what was to become a colonia, a place where Roman theatres known in the retired Roman soldiers could live whole of Britain), the Temple of and settle, be given land and who Claudius (on the same site as our could be relied upon to look after present day Norman castle) and Rome's interests. The newly laid numerous other temples (the out Roman capital (named the Romano-Celtic temple at A map showing the Colonia Victricensis - City of Gosbecks could accommodate Roman Colchester Victory) was set out and its streets, over 5,000 people), a Roman area, showing unencumbered by any earlier circus (the only one known in Gosbecks and the buildings, were laid out perfectly in Britain, with seating for 15,000 amazing defensive east/west, north/south direction - spectators), the earliest Romano- earthwork system as we see our High Street/East Christian church in Britain (when created by the British, Hill and North Hill/Head Street the Emperor Constantine continued during the are today. The Romans had a clear declared the to be Roman period. canvas with which to work! c Christian around AD 330) and a