Colchester (redirected from Colchester, England)

Colchester (kōl`chĭstər, –chĕs'tər), city (1991 pop. 87,476) and district, Essex, SE England, on the Colne River. The city is a grain and cattle market. The oyster fisheries of the Colne are important; an annual event is the October oyster feast. Other industries are flour milling, malting, and the making of boilers, gas engines, shoes, clothing, and farm machinery. Colchester was one of the great cities of pre-Roman Britain, the capital of the ruler Cunobelin (Shakespeare's Cymbeline). It became an important Roman colony and was the particular object of attack (A.D. 61) by Boadicea. To the Anglo-Saxons the place was known as Colneceaster. The witenagemot met there in 931. During the English civil war, the town was taken (1648) after a long siege by parliamentarians under Baron Fairfax of Cameron. Of interest are the preserved Roman walls and the massive Norman castle, part of which houses a museum of Roman antiquities. Colchester has a military base.

---

Colchester

 ancient Camulodunum

City and borough (pop., 2001: 155,794), southeastern England. In ancient times, the city was the capital of the powerful pre-Roman ruler Cunobelinus. After his death, the enmity of his sons toward Rome encouraged the Roman invasion of Britain, and it became the first Roman colony there, founded by Claudius c. AD 43. Burned by Boudicca's warriors c. AD 60, it was reestablished and received its first charter in 1189. In the 13th century it was a major port. It has a long history in both cloth making and oyster trading. It is the site of England's largest castle keep (built c. 1080), which now houses a museum of Romano-British antiquities.

---

Colchester

a town in E England, in NE Essex; university (1964). Pop.: 104 390 (2001)

---

Colchester 

a city in Great Britain, on the Colne River in Essex. Population, 72,600 (1968).

Colchester has machine building, printing, and sewn-goods industries. It has the remains of a pre-Roman settlement (belonging to the Celtic tribe of the Trinovantes) and of Camulodunum, a city dating from Roman times. Under the Roman emperor Claudius, Colchester was turned into a settlement for Roman veterans and enjoyed the rights of a municipality (Colonia Victricensis). In A.D. 61, during the rebellion of Boadicea, the city was almost destroyed by fire. However, it was soon restored and became one of the main cities of Roman Britain. Excavations carried out since the 1880’s have uncovered the largest complex of antiquities found anywhere in Britain. A Norman castle, church buildings, and the grain exchange are among the medieval monuments that have been preserved.

REFERENCE

Hull, M. R. Roman Colchester. London, 1958.