History of Colchester

Colchester, High Street 1891
Reproduced courtesy of The Francis Frith Collection.

Feature articles

How Colchester was hit by the strongest earthquake in England's history.>>more

An account of the siege of Colchester during the English Civil War, from Daniel Defoe's tour of Essex.

White's Directory of Essex 1848

White's Directory of Essex 1848 - list of inhabitants.

Places to visit

Colchester Castle - 2000 years of history.

More local history sources

Books featuring Colchester from Abebooks. Just click the logo. The search terms are already formatted for Colchester.

Search for Colchester census returns at ancestry.co.uk.

1841 England Census | 1851 England Census | 1861 England Census
1871 England Census | 1881 England Census | 1891 England Census
1901 England Census

Colchester Castle
print published 1834

The Essex Record Office: an excellent starting point for research. The ERO has an online catalogue by the name of SEAX and a database of Parish Records held in the ERO. Access to both via their home page.

Excellent detailed information on the history of Colchester appears in the Victorian Counties History on the British History Online web site: The Borough of Colchester, A History of the County of Essex: Volume 9: The Borough of Colchester (1994).

Colchester has several museums. Find out more on the Colchester Museums web site.

Colchester Archaeological Trust with archaeological news in the Colchester area.

Council web site with a history of Colchester.

History of Medieval Colchester.

Colchester in the 15th century.

Web site on the history of Colchester Workhouse.

History and Description of the Ancient Town and Borough of Colchester, in Essex By Thomas Cromwell (published 1826). Download from Google Book Search.

1881 Ordnance Survey Map from the British History Online web site (Essex: 027, Ordnance Survey 1:10,560: Epoch 1.0).

Ordnance Survey - type the place name in the gazetteer search box to view detailed map of Colchester.

Images of England web site which has a photographic record of England's listed buildings - from the grandest house to the humblest cottage. Enter the town or village in the search box. Photographs are accompanied by a detailed architectural description of the property.