Front Cover: Arial view of Colchester Castle and Castle Park. ii Content FIGURES................................................................................................................................................VI ABBREVIATIONS..................................................................................................................................IX ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.......................................................................................................................X COLCHESTER BOROUGH HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT CHARACTERISATION PROJECT ........... 11 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 11 1.1 PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT ..................................................................................................... 12 2 THE HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT OF COLCHESTER BOROUGH............................................. 14 2.1 PALAEOLITHIC ........................................................................................................................ 14 2.2 MESOLITHIC ........................................................................................................................... 15 2.3 NEOLITHIC ............................................................................................................................. 15 BRONZE AGE....................................................................................................................................... 16 2.4 IRON AGE............................................................................................................................... 18 2.5 ROMAN .................................................................................................................................. 22 2.6 SAXON................................................................................................................................... 27 2.7 MEDIEVAL .............................................................................................................................. 29 2.8 POST-MEDIEVAL..................................................................................................................... 35 2.9 MODERN ................................................................................................................................39 3 CHARACTERISATION OF THE RESOURCE............................................................................. 42 3.1 HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT CHARACTER AREA DESCRIPTIONS ..................................................... 43 3.1.1 HECA 1 River Stour Valley ............................................................................................. 43 3.1.2 HECA 2 : Bures and Fordham ........................................................................................ 45 3.1.3 HECA 3 Great Horksley and West Bergholt .................................................................... 46 3.1.4 HECA 4 Colne Valley....................................................................................................... 47 3.1.5 HECA 5 Modern Colchester ............................................................................................ 48 3.1.6 HECA 6 Colchester Historic Core.................................................................................... 55 3.1.7 HECA 7 Wivenhoe Area ................................................................................................. 60 3.1.8 HECA 8 Wivenhoe Town ................................................................................................. 61 3.1.9 HECA 9 Great Tey area................................................................................................... 63 3.1.10 HECA 10 Messing and Marks Tey Area ..................................................................... 64 3.1.11 HECA 11 Village of Tiptree ......................................................................................... 66 3.1.12 HECA 12 Roman River Valley..................................................................................... 67 3.1.13 HECA 13 Abberton area.............................................................................................. 68 3.1.14 HECA 14 Colne Estuary.............................................................................................. 70 3.1.15 HECA 15: Mersea Island............................................................................................ 71 4 CREATION OF HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT CHARACTER ZONES.......................................... 74 iii 4.1 GENERAL BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................... 74 4.2 METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................................... 74 4.3 THE SCORING OF THE HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT CHARACTER ZONES......................................... 75 4.3.1 Diversity of historic environment assets .......................................................................... 75 4.3.2 Survival ............................................................................................................................ 76 4.3.3 Documentation................................................................................................................. 76 4.3.4 Group Value Association ................................................................................................. 76 4.3.5 Potential ........................................................................................................................... 77 4.3.6 Sensitivity to Change ....................................................................................................... 77 4.3.7 Amenity Value.................................................................................................................. 78 5 COLCHESTER HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT CHARACTERISATION ZONES........................... 79 5.1 HECA 1 RIVER STOUR VALLEY............................................................................................... 79 5.2 HECA 2: BURES AND FORDHAM............................................................................................. 93 5.3 HECA 3: GREAT HORKESLEY AND WEST BERGHOLT ............................................................ 101 5.4 HECA 4: COLNE VALLEY ..................................................................................................... 110 5.5 HECA 5 MODERN COLCHESTER.......................................................................................... 118 5.6 HECA 6 COLCHESTER WALLED TOWN ................................................................................ 158 5.7 HECA 7: WIVENHOE AREA................................................................................................... 177 5.8 HECA 8: WIVENHOE TOWN.................................................................................................. 183 5.9 HECA 9: GREAT TEY AREA.................................................................................................. 190 5.10 HECA 10: MESSING AND MARKS TEY AREA.......................................................................... 197 5.11 HECA 11: VILLAGE OF TIPTREE............................................................................................ 205 5.12 HECA 12 ROMAN RIVER VALLEY ........................................................................................ 210 5.13 HECA 13: ABBERTON AREA................................................................................................. 225 5.14 HECA 14 COLNE ESTUARY ................................................................................................. 237 5.15 HECA 15: MERSEA ISLAND.................................................................................................. 252 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................. 258 APPENDICES ..................................................................................................................................... 259 1 HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT CHARACTER AREA METHODOLOGY ...................................... 259 1.1 CREATION OF HISTORIC LANDSCAPE CHARACTER AREAS ....................................................... 259 1.1.1 General Background...................................................................................................... 259 1.1.2 Methodology .................................................................................................................. 260 1.1.3 Outline of Results .......................................................................................................... 261 1.2 CREATION OF URBAN CHARACTER AREAS FOR COLCHESTER.................................................. 262 1.3 CREATION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL CHARACTER AREAS IN COLCHESTER.................................... 262 1.3.1 General Background...................................................................................................... 262 1.3.2 Approach to the Analysis ............................................................................................... 262 1.3.3 Outline of Approach and Methodology .......................................................................... 263 iv 1.3.4 Description and Review ................................................................................................. 264 1.3.5 Outline of Results .........................................................................................................