Colchester Town Wall
Has been described as a Certain Urban Defence
There are major building remains
| Name | Colchester Town Wall |
| Alternative Names | |
| Historic Country | Essex |
| Modern Authority | Essex |
| 1974 Authority | Essex |
| Civil Parish | Colchester |
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.
This site is a scheduled monument protected by law
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law
Historic England Scheduled Monument Number
Historic England Listed Building number(s)
Images Of England
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
| OS Map Grid Reference | TL998252 |
| Latitude | 51.8885688781738 |
| Longitude | 0.907589972019196 |
| Eastings | 599800 |
| Northings | 225200 |
