Places to visit in Essex

Colchester Castle and Musuem

• Colchester Castle Museum,
• Castle Park,
• Colchester,
• Essex.
• Website: http://www.colchestermuseums.org.uk

Colchester Castle 1892
Reproduced courtesy of The Francis Frith Collection.

Colchester Castle and Musuem is a fascinating place to explore 2000 years of history. The award winning museum takes you through the history of Colchester, the former capital of Roman Britain. It reveals how one of the impressive buildings of the capital, the Roman Temple of Claudius, was burnt down during Boudica's rebellion and now forms the foundation for the Castle which was built by the Normans. The horrors of the siege of Colchester during the English Civil War are revealed when the inhabitants of the town were forced to eat rats; and you can explore the cells when the Castle later served as a goal.

Opening times and detailed information appears on the Museum's website linked above.

An account of the siege of Colchester appears in Daniel Defoe's tour of Essex, 1722, printed here on History House.

Colchester Castle
print published 1834