Things the Romans did for Colchester
Oct. 14th, 2024 10:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustI grew up in Essex: that is, I lived in the county for a substantial chunk of my childhood and adolescence. That was a long time ago, and in purely numerical terms, it wasn't a large part of my life. But it feels significant (I have been known to describe myself as an Essex girl). Yet somehow I have never been to Colchester before (I thought neither of us had, but durham_rambler tells me he came to a folk club here in 1965 to hear Arlo Guthrie, which he doesn't think counts...) even though once upon a time, Colchester was the capital of Roman Britain.
The guide book calls it "Britain's oldest recorded town". I don't quite know how to define the word 'town', but there was certainly something of the kind here before the Romans came. But what we see begins with Romans: their temple provided the foundations and part of the masonry on which the Conqueror built his castle. The interior of that castle has gone, but the outer shell remains, and houses the town's museum. It is currently playing host to a temporary guest, Luke Jerram's Gaia, which we last saw when it visited Durham cathedral, and were quite surprised to see again:
The picture is a completely arbitrary juxtaposition, but I'd say the same of the insertion of a giant globe into the middle of a museum: might as well enjoy it. The amphora is at least typical of the exhibits on show. There are plenty of survivals of Roman Britain along the line of the Wall, and evidence of people living comfortable daily lives alongside the military importance of the frontier: but here is the North/South divide - Camulodunum has provided an impressive display of Roman glass. The museum wants to tell the dramatic story of how Boudicca burned the city, killed its inhabitants, razed that temple to the ground... But there's a small-print postscript that admits she was defeated, the city and temple were rebuilt, Camulodunum flourish for another couple of centuries (and here are some treasures from that time).
That's what we did yesterday. This morning we visited what remains of the Roman city wall, with its one remaining gate. And then this afternoon we did something completely different.
durham_rambler tells me he came to a folk club here in 1965 to hear Arlo Guthrie, which he doesn't think counts...) even though once upon a time, Colchester was the capital of Roman Britain.The guide book calls it "Britain's oldest recorded town". I don't quite know how to define the word 'town', but there was certainly something of the kind here before the Romans came. But what we see begins with Romans: their temple provided the foundations and part of the masonry on which the Conqueror built his castle. The interior of that castle has gone, but the outer shell remains, and houses the town's museum. It is currently playing host to a temporary guest, Luke Jerram's Gaia, which we last saw when it visited Durham cathedral, and were quite surprised to see again:
The picture is a completely arbitrary juxtaposition, but I'd say the same of the insertion of a giant globe into the middle of a museum: might as well enjoy it. The amphora is at least typical of the exhibits on show. There are plenty of survivals of Roman Britain along the line of the Wall, and evidence of people living comfortable daily lives alongside the military importance of the frontier: but here is the North/South divide - Camulodunum has provided an impressive display of Roman glass. The museum wants to tell the dramatic story of how Boudicca burned the city, killed its inhabitants, razed that temple to the ground... But there's a small-print postscript that admits she was defeated, the city and temple were rebuilt, Camulodunum flourish for another couple of centuries (and here are some treasures from that time).
That's what we did yesterday. This morning we visited what remains of the Roman city wall, with its one remaining gate. And then this afternoon we did something completely different.
