‘Colchester or Ipswich – which is the oldest town?’

Today (27th March), a brief item was posted on the web-site of Colchester’s Daily Gazette titled ‘Colchester or Ipswich – which is the oldest town?’.

‘… A WAR of words has broken out between two towns over which is the oldest in the country.

Colchester has long claimed to be Britain’s oldest recorded town, as road signs proudly state to visitors coming into the area.

But now Ipswich hopes to boast it is the oldest English town in a bid to promote itself to potential tourists, with the assertion added to its own welcome signs …’

Read the item, cast your vote and add your comment online at www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/10314575.Colchester_or_Ipswich___which_is_the_oldest_town_/ and read more in today’s newspaper.

Colchester claims to be the oldest recorded town in Britain, as the Roman town was recorded by Pliny the Elder before his death in AD 79 and, later, described by Tacitus as having been founded in AD 49. (See ‘Natural History’ by Pliny the Elder and ‘The Annals’ by Tacitus.) Ipswich originated as a small trading settlement in about the 7th century AD and claims to have been continuously occupied since then. The Roman towns of London and St Albans pre-date AD 61.

The crux of the issue revolves around the fine point of whether or not Colchester was continuously occupied throughout the whole of the Anglo-Saxon period. If there was a gap in occupation, it would have been around the 9th century. Certainly the archaeological evidence for life in Colchester during the 9th century is very thin, but not so thin that we can be sure that the town was deserted at this time.

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