| About Colchester Colchester is Britain's oldest recorded town and is today the main town in North Essex with a population of around 100,000. Colchester's garrison houses more than 5,000 troops and Essex University has 5,500 students. • London: 50 miles • Stansted Airport: 40 miles • Cambridge: 30 miles • Ipswich: 20 miles Trains depart from the main North Station as well as the central Town Station, and also the smaller stations at the Hythe and at Wivenhoe. From the North Station, trains take around 50 minutes from Colchester to Liverpool Street and run frequently, making it an ideal base for commuters working in London. Regular trains also connect Colchester to many nearby towns, including Ipswich, Clacton-on-Sea, Braintree, and Chelmsford amongst others. Shopping Attractions Colchester is a popular shopping centre with a wide variety of major high street stores mixed with smaller local and traditional shops. The large retail park at the Tollgate Centre to the West of Colchester in Stanway offers further shopping opportunities with a range of retail outlets including electrical and furniture stores. A popular shopping centre, world class zoo, award-winning park, an historic castle, museums, a skating rink and many other attractions all make Colchester a very appealing location. Education • English Study Centre • Greyfriars Adult Community College • University of Essex • Colchester Sixth Form College • Colchester Institute History Prior to the Roman conquest of 43AD the town was called Camulodunum which is derived from the Latin word "Dunum" meaning "fort" and the name Camulos - the Celtic god of war. By 50AD Colchester had become the most important town in Britain until Boudicca (Boudicea), daughter of the then ruler of East Anglia lead a revolt against the Romans who burned much of the town to the ground before leaving to establish Londinium as their new capital. During the middle ages Colchester became renowned for its cloth-making. The end of the 16th century saw this industry begin to slowly dissolving away until revived by refugees from what is now Belgium. these refugees were protestants and sided with the Parliament. The 16th century saw the town seized by a Royalist force and a bloody siege followed for 11 weeks until the town fell. During this siege a great deal of damage was done to many of the churches including "St Mary at the Walls" Humpty Dumpty was the name of a cannon situated on these walls and this event gave rise to the Nursery rhyme.  Colchester Castle |
 Town Hall - High Street |