{"id":30012,"date":"2020-03-28T21:33:12","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T21:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/travel\/?p=30012"},"modified":"2021-06-17T16:12:42","modified_gmt":"2021-06-17T15:12:42","slug":"colchester-the-five-minute-spare-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/travel\/colchester-the-five-minute-spare-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Colchester: The Five Minute Spare Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Colchester the Five Minutes Spare Way<\/span><\/h1>\n
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All the way down in Essex county, Colchester perches on the banks of the River Colne. This southerly town claims to be the oldest in England, Britain, and among the most ancient towns in Europe. They joined the Most Ancient European Towns Network in 1994[i]<\/a>, back when it was founded. This group is dedicated to conservation, preservation, and managing things like tourism in some of the oldest places in our world.<\/p>\n

\"Colchester

Colchester Town Hall
Image: chrisdorney\/Shutterstock.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Colchester is up there with Cadiz in Spain, Argos in Greece (the one from Greek legend) and Cork in Ireland. Evidence of civilization in Colchester goes back all the way to the glacial movements that carved the valleys and hills as we know them. They have found both Palaeolithic and Mesolithic items under the town. Evidence of Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age settlements have been found in and around town.<\/p>\n

Here at Five Minutes Spare we compose a whole lot of locational pages. We thought Scotland and Ireland were old\u2026 but Colchester is something else. People have lived here since people existed. There is a Henge, plenty of Bronze Age burial sites, and monuments that dot the landscape that were built by the first people in the British Isles. It\u2019s almost imperceptible.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s put Colchester under the microscope and find out a little more about this historical marvel. From the outset, it seems like it would be a pretty neat place for a holiday.<\/p>\n

The Early Days of Colchester<\/h2>\n
\"Colchester

Image: callumrc\/Shutterstock.com<\/p><\/div>\n

As with every other town in England, scholars argue over the meaning of the name. Those who associate it with King Coel \u2013 or old King Coel from the nursery rhyme \u2013 will be disappointed to know that the town isn\u2019t, in fact, named for the old king. Its pre-dates history and he arrived after the Romans did. Merry old King Coel<\/a> was dead by the year 420 AD, Colchester was the Roman capital of England and they invaded around 40 AD\u2026 so that rules out one theory, at least. It would have been cool though.<\/p>\n

A much more likely theory is that the River Colne was the source of the name. In addition, the Roman tongue sees Colonia as a new colony they set up, so it may be derived from this word.<\/p>\n

At any rate, Pliny the Elder, who was a Roman author, mentioned Colchester (Camulodunon) in 79 AD \u2013 before the Romans even got here. It is thought that the king of that time used the town as his capital. Interestingly, coins minted around that time use the Celtic variation of Colchester (Camulodunon) as their place of origin\u2026 To add to the confusion, the early Anglo-Saxons would have called the town Colneceaster, which was the lingual precedent to \u2018Chester\u2019.<\/p>\n

Really, we should be calling it the town of many names. Rumour has it that Colchester was actually Camelot. Who knows? There\u2019s nobody left to deny it\u2026 There is speculation that the town began as the origin place of the Trinovantes<\/a> tribe. They would have lived across Essex and Suffolk.<\/p>\n

The Romans arrived a few years after AD happened and invaded everywhere. Colchester is one of the first places they took. They built two Roman theatres, some Temples, and numerous dwellings. In 61 AD it was sacked by Queen Boadicea<\/a>. When she was beaten back, they built the walls of the town. They are known to be the longest, thickest Roman walls in the British Isles. Evidence has since been found of a chariot racing track. Other finds in the area have been rather prolific. It is thought the population of the town was around 30k. However, when Boadicea wrecked it they shifted their centre of power to London<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Viking Colchester<\/h3>\n

After the Romans retreated back where they came from, the town became a presumably sleepy settlement. Many of the former Roman towns were just abandoned fully built. We imagine Colchester was similar. People from the outlying areas could have just chosen a wooden house and moved in. When the Vikings came around 800 AD they moved on in there. They may or may not have caused merry hell as they did so.<\/p>\n

The Vikings used the town as a fort, attacking out from here to ensnare nearby lands. In 917 King Edward laid siege to get them out. The English got the town back again, then the Normans invaded\u2026 Colchester had it tough. The Normans built a castle on one of the Temples and about 30,000 Romans turned in their graves. It was finished by 1100 and still stands today.<\/p>\n

In 1086, Colchester was one of the biggest cities in the country. It had 193 households and 17 different owners. It was still close to capital size. You can browse through the full entry here<\/a>. Colchester landowners, like many other landowners in England at the time, kept slaves.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s pause for a moment and brighten things up before we get macabre. That England once engaged in the slave trade is important to remember\u2026 but we don\u2019t want to scare our readers away so we will move quickly onwards.<\/p>\n

Fun Facts About Colchester!<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s stop a moment to appreciate some remarkable, interesting, and generally fun facts about this town. Colchester is so old it could write its own book, but here are our favourites:<\/p>\n