Colchester welcomes thousands of visitors a year from all parts of the world and Colchester Heritage Tours is delighted to play its part in helping our visitors want to return!

The history of the city stretches even further back than the Roman invasion of 43CE with Iron Age Britons living under the rule of King Cunobelin, described by some Roman writers as ‘King of the Britons’. When the Romans established themselves here, Colchester or Camulodunum became the first city in the new Roman province of Britannia. People are fascinated when we tell them that the oldest city in Britain is now its newest, a status granted by Queen Elizabeth II just weeks before her death in 2022.

After the Romans left the city in the 5th century, they left behind a city rich in Roman classical buildings including a temple which had been built in honour of the deified Emperor Claudius who had died in 54CE. After years of deprivation in the so-called Dark Ages, it fell to the Normans to build their keep or castle over and around the Roman temple foundations, thereby rendering it the largest Norman keep in Britain and Europe.

In the centuries that followed, Colchester saw the demise of its abbey, priories and churches following the Protestant Reformation started by Henry VIII. The townspeople were subject to witch-hunts in the 17th century by the unscrupulous self-styled Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins and a year or so later, experienced unimaginable starvation during the Siege of Colchester at the end of the Civil Wars in Britain.

During the Victorian era, engineering and building industries started to boom and the railway came to Colchester, bringing employment and rising prosperity to the town. Victorian architectures in the form of much loved icons - 1883 water tower known as ‘Jumbo’ and the 1902 Town Hall - started to dominate and shape the skyline of Colchester.

We’ve only skimmed the history here - come on one of our tours and we’ll fill in the gaps!