The gate was recorded in detail with an overlapping grid of high-resolution digital photographs. The images were used to create a very accurate 3D surface model, and one that can be accessed from a multitude of vantage points and viewing distances. The principle method uses well-established computing algorithms, using Structure from Motion (SfM) to reconstruct 3D space from the multiple overlapping images. The results are shared using Sketchfab, which is dedicated to the publication and sharing of digital 3D models.

The 3D model is important for conservation recording and management of the Town Wall, serving as an accurate point-in-time record of the gate that can be revisited in the future to study alteration, erosion and damage.

More detailed information about the digital recording technique can be found in the Historic England good practice guidance Photogrammetric Applications for Cultural Heritage.

The results of the project are available here.

In the late 3rd century, the Balkerne Gate was closed and the external defensive ditch was extended to close off the road (i.e. the ditch was dug across the carriageways). The monumental arch and part of the rest of the gate was demolished and the rubble used to block the gap; the south pedestrian walkway, however, seems to have been left open.  The south-west gate, or Head Gate became the main gate into the town after the Balkerne Gate was blocked in the late 3rd century, and it was the principal gate into the later medieval town.

The surviving (southern) pedestrian archway of the Balkerne Gate, still in use today, and southern bastion (and also part of the northern bastion) is only a small part of what was once an impressive entrance into Colchester, in keeping with the importance of the town. The base of the blocked carriageways are visible below the parapet of the Hole in the Wall public house.

The Balkerne Gate in 1913. Notice the house that is built against the Wall, to the south of the Gate.  This, and other buildings along Balkerne Lane, were demolished in advance of the construction of the dual carriageway in 1977.

A large defensive ditch, over 5m wide and 3m deep, was dug around the outer foot of the Wall, around the same time as the construction of the Wall. This ditch was subsequently recut and enlarged in c.AD 275. An interior rampart was also added to the Wall in the mid-2nd century AD.

The Wall was repaired and refurbished in AD 917 by Edward the Elder. A substantial ditch was cut along the south side of the Wall in the late 10th or 11th century, 7.5m wide and  3.0m deep. An extensive programme of repairs was carried out in the 14th century and eight bastions were added along the south-east circuit. One of the best preserved bastions, Bastion 5, is today situated in Priory Street car park. The Civil War was the last military action seen by the Town Wall.

Unlike many other town walls, subsequent alterations have not altered the essential character of the circuit and it continues to define the historic centre of the town. It is one of the most important historic features and visual reminders of the Roman town, as most of the Roman evidence is buried deep underground.

In 2019, Colchester Borough Council adopted a new management plan.  The plan sets out a framework for the maintenance, enhancement, interpretation, presentation and celebration of the Town Wall and its setting. 

]]>https://colchesterheritage.co.uk/blog/town-wallhttps://colchesterheritage.co.uk/blog/town-wallFri, 25 Sep 2020 13:44:31 GMTRoman MedievalDuring the final week of excavations in 2014 at the Williams and Griffin store at High Street, Colchester, archaeologists discovered a hoard of Roman gold and silver jewellery and coins. This is the first hoard of precious metals ever found in Colchester. It is especially significant as it was found in a small pit within the floor of a house and appears to have been buried for safekeeping during the early stages of the Boudican revolt in AD 61. The jewellery was buried under the floor of a house which was subsequently burnt to the ground, along with the rest of the town.

The collection of jewellery included one gold and two silver bracelets, two gold and one silver armlets, five gold finger-rings, a silver chain and loop, a copper-alloy bulla (pendant worn around the neck), a glass intaglio with the incised image of a panther, a collection of Roman republican coins, and the remains of a jewellery box containing two sets of gold earrings and four of the gold finger-rings. The jewellery appears to have belonged to a wealthy Roman woman who lived in Colchester.

The 'Fenwick hoard', as this collection of jewellery is known, is currently on display at Colchester Castle.

]]>https://colchesterheritage.co.uk/blog/the-fenwick-hoardhttps://colchesterheritage.co.uk/blog/the-fenwick-hoardMon, 18 Dec 2017 13:28:00 GMTRomanhoardjewelleryThe Red Lion Hotel is one of the earliest surviving and best-preserved buildings in Colchester town centre. The Red Lion was built originally as a town house for John Howard, Lord Howard, later the duke of Norfolk in 1481 or 1482 and the heraldic badge of the Howards is carved on the façade, over the gateway. 

Seventeen samples were taken for tree-ring dating in 2016, from different sections of the building. These indicate, perhaps surprisingly, that different sections were built within a very short timescale. Two posts from the front range provided a date of AD 1475/76 or soon after. A post from the southern hall, in the rear of the west range, was dated to AD 1475 and matched the date of a post at the rear of the east range.

By 1515 it had become a public hostelry, originally the New Inn or The White Lion, but is possible that some of the building complex could have remained in Howard occupation. After 1603, it became known as the Red Lion in honour of James VI of Scotland and I of England, whose Scottish royal arms featured a red lion.

The archway is decorated with St George and the Dragon and two male figures which possibly represent merchants or lawyers. As in previous centuries, today the lower part of the building is used for retail, with the hotel on the upper floors.

]]>https://colchesterheritage.co.uk/blog/the-red-lion-hotelhttps://colchesterheritage.co.uk/blog/the-red-lion-hotelSun, 17 Dec 2017 15:07:00 GMTmedievalbuildinginnIron Age Colchester was protected on its western edge by a series of defensive earthworks known as the Dykes. A dyke is a bank formed from the earth dug out of a defensive ditch. When first constructed, the banks reached up to 4m in height and the ditches 4.5m deep, so they created a formidable barrier. Over time, this form of earthwork appears to have developed for different reasons. As well as being used to protect settlements from attack by warriors in chariots or from cattle raiders, the Dykes were used to confine grazing animals. In Colchester, their sheer size and extent emphasised the importance of the settlement at this time.

Several stretches of the Colchester Dykes are still accessible for everyone to see today. Lexden Triple Dyke and Blue Bottle Grove are well-preserved examples from the Iron Age. Gryme’s Dyke is a later Roman addition to the Iron Age system and may have been built as long as 20 years after the Roman invasion in AD 43, perhaps in response to the revolt led by Boudica, the queen of the British Iceni tribe, when the town was destroyed by fire.

In 1940, the defensive importance of the Dykes was appreciated once again when the stretch known as ‘Blue Bottle Grove’ was refortified, in expectation of an imminent German invasion.

What is perhaps less well-known about Sir Mortimer Wheeler is that he carried out his very first excavation in Colchester, in 1917, at the Balkerne Gate. This gate was the western entrance to the Roman town. 

The Romans took over the settlement at Gosbecks and built a temple, possibly dedicated to Mercury. This would have been a religious focus for the native population.

The Romans also built a huge theatre at Gosbecks in around AD 100. Gosbecks’ theatre is the largest known from Roman Britain, seating around 5,000 people. It was probably used with the temple for assemblies, speeches, religious rites and dramatic performances.

In around AD 275 the importance of the site declined. The theatre and the temple were abandoned and dismantled and the building materials were taken away and recycled.

Today, both the theatre and the temple have completely disappeared; only the outlines can be seen marked out on the ground.

The inside of the temple was reserved for priests to worship the spirit of the emperor; everyone else would have gathered outside in a large enclosed space known as the precinct. It is likely the precinct would have housed a statue of Claudius and an altar, approached through a monumental arch.

At the end of the Roman period, the temple may have been used as a Christian church before it fell into disuse. The whole site was largely abandoned for centuries, although shortly before the Norman Conquest a Saxon chapel was constructed among the ruins. The Normans recognised the importance of the temple site, both as a legacy of an ancient past and as an excellent location for their castle as they realised they could use the existing foundations. Today, these remains – the Vaults, as they became known in the eighteenth century – can be visited on guided tours of Colchester Castle.

When the burial mound was excavated in the early 1920s by Philip and Henry Laver, they found a large pit containing the cremated remains of an adult male who died at around 40 years of age. Buried alongside him was a rich assemblage of grave goods including chain mail, a folding stool, a Middle Bronze Age copper alloy axe head wrapped in cloth, rare figurines, 17 amphorae and a silver medallion of Augustus. 

One possibility is that this is the grave of Addedomarus, one of the kings of Camolodunum before the Romans arrived.

The site of the Lexden tumulus is privately owned, but many of the grave goods are on display in Colchester Castle.

Colchester Castle is now home to Colchester Castle Museum where visitors can explore the Roman vaults and visit the roof of the castle for panoramic views around the town. The museum's collections focus on the history of Colchester and include many very significant finds such as the Kelvedon Warrior and the 'Fenwick hoard', a collection of Roman jewellery found under the Fenwick store on High Street, Colchester.

Chariot racing was the oldest and most popular sport in the Roman world and the Colchester  circus is the only example in the country.  It is one of only six locations in the northwest provinces of the Roman Empire where circuses have been securely identified.

The Colchester Roman Circus is a classic example of its type - an elongated arena, approximately 450 metres long and 74 metres wide, comprising of a racing track flanked by tiered seating, known as a 'cavea', along the north and south long sides and around the curved (east) end. This would have provided perhaps as many as six tiers of seating around outside of the track, providing an estimated seating capacity for 8,000 people.

At one end of the track there was a row of eight starting gates and at the other a sharp 180 degree turn. The two long straight sections were separated by a barrier called a ‘spina’, which supported a series of decorative columns and other features, including lap counters and pressurised water features. 

It was constructed around AD 125, probably on the orders of the emperor, Hadrian, who was in Britain at that time. The circus had already gone out of use by the end of the Roman period.

The building, i.e. the above-ground structure, is poorly preserved and there are no upstanding original walls or earthworks (which is the reason why the Circus was previously unknown).  Today the Roman Circus Centre provides information about the site and visitors can see reconstructions of the starting gates and the seating. 

The site is open to the public, and managed by Colchester Borough Council. More information about visiting St Botolph's Priory is available from the English Heritage website.

]]>https://colchesterheritage.co.uk/blog/st-botolphs-prioryhttps://colchesterheritage.co.uk/blog/st-botolphs-prioryFri, 01 Dec 2017 11:42:00 GMTmedievalchurchreligionDescribed by Pevsner as 'the most remarkable Norman church in the county', the church of St Michael and All Angels is home to some of the best-preserved Norman wall paintings in Britain.

The church was built around 1125-1130, probably as a chapel by the Bishops of London. The whole church was originally vaulted, and the apse still is - Norman vaults in parish churches are extremely rare in England. 

 The 'Danes skin' from the north door has recently been re-examined and confirmed as human.

In the apse of the church are mid-12th century wall paintings, much restored, depicting St Michael and St Gabriel and 10 apostles. At the centre is a majesty with rainbow supported by angels. The nave and chancel have numerous figures with extensive decorative work and diaper motifs.

The paintings are by far the most important medieval wall paintings in Essex. They date from the same time as the church, and are comparable with contemporary paintings in St Gabriel's Chapel, Canterbury Cathedral. They have been heavily restored, particularly those in the apse (pictured) which were discovered during restoration work in 1871-2 and over-painted.

This beautiful church is just 5 minutes off the A12 to the south of Colchester, and is open to the public. To find out more about visiting, please check the church website.