Colchester Town Wall (The Gatehouse Record)

Description

Late C3 Roman wall which remained in use through the middle ages. Substantially intact. Grant of timber received in 1215. Money for defences was uniquely provided by exemption town from duty to send a member to parliament and his expenses used in 1382, 1388, 1394, 1404 and 1410. Built of layers of septaria, interspersed with 4-fold course of brick, the lowest course going right through the wall, with a core of rubble and cement. Considerable lengths of the wall still reach a height of 15 ft, and it is on average 8 ft thick. The wall was strengthened in each corner and where it was met by the internal streets by an internal solid tower the base of one can be seen in the stretch on Balkerne Hill. The wall was extensively repaired during the reign of Richard II, 1389-1399 when it was strengthened by the addition of external semi-circular solid bastions, 4 of these remain in Priory Street. The wall was further considerably damaged in the 1648 siege.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1003772, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number ex7
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1123664 , 1337769
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 383745; 383748.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 13113; 12291; 12312; 12316; see also the Colchester Urban Archaeological Database searchable from Heritage Gateway.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- The ORB
  CastlesFortsBattle.co.uk
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 54-6
  Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 23, 30, 40, 65, 70, 92, 128, 133, 134, 202, 230, 240, 260
  Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 27
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 70-2
  Cooper, Janet (ed), 1994, VCH Essex Vol. 9 p. 248-51 online transcription
  Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  Crummy, P., 1984, Excavations at Lion Walk, Balkerne Lane and Middleborough, Colchester, Essex (Colchester Archaeological Report 3)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 148
  Crummy, P., 1981, Aspects of Anglo-Saxon and Norman Colchester (CBA Research Report 39)
  Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) The plans and topography of medieval towns in England and Wales (CBA Research Report 14) p. 57-71 plan p. 62 download/view online
  Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p. 125
  RCHME, 1922, An inventory of the historical monuments in Essex Vol. 3 (north-east) p. 20-21 online transcription
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co) p. 226
  Doubleday, Arthur and Page, Wm (eds), 1903 VCH Essex Vol. 1 p. 327 online copy
  Cromwell, 1825, History and Description of Colchester (London) Vol. 1 p. 169-77
  Morant, P., 1748, History and Antiquities of County of Essex (London) Vol. 1 p. 7
Periodical Articles
- Górniak, Maruisz, 2006, 'Digging under the Roman town wall' The Colchester Archaeologist Vol. 19 p. 20-22 online copy
  Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
  Crummy, Philip, 2002, 'Britain's first town wall' The Colchester Archaeologist Vol. 15 p. 19-21 online copy
  Crummy, Philip, 1988-9, 'Colchester's town wall' The Colchester Archaeologist Vol. 2 p. 6-11 online copy
  Crummy, Philip, 1987, 'Britain's Oldest Town' The Colchester Archaeologist Vol. 2 p. 16-17 online copy
  Wheeler, R.E.M., 1921, 'The Balkerne Gate, Colchester' Essex Archaeological Society Transactions (new ser) Vol. 15 p. 179-189
  Laver, 1920, Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol. 26 p. 22-32
  Jarmin, 1915, Essex Archaeological Society Transactions (new ser) Vol. 13 p. 105-12 (on the ditch)
  Duncan, P.M., 1858, 'The history and description of the walls of Colchester' Essex Archaeological Society Transactions Vol. 1 p. 26-58 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 1896, The Great Roll of the Pipe for the twentieth year of the reign of king Henry II A.D 1173-4 (Pipe Roll Society 21) p. 75. (defrayment of cost from fee farm) online copy
  Hardy, T.D. (ed), 1833, Rotuli litterarum clausarum in turri Londinensi asservati (Record Commission) Vol. 1 p. 193 (grant of timber) online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1891-1916, Calendar of Patent Rolls (1381-1385) p. 214; (1385-1389) p. 505; (1391-1396) p. 379; (1401-1405) p. 355; (1408-1413) p. 199; (1413-1416) p. 23 (exemptions from sending MP)
  - Also see the Gatehouse murage pages for full details of murage grants, petitions and other such.
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Celia Fiennes, 1888, Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press) Vision of Britain online transcription

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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