#ThrowbackThursday Upper Castle Park 2001-2002

For this week’s #ThrowbackThursday, we are remembering our work at Colchester Castle, Upper Castle Park between 2001-2002.

Colchester Castle was built in the late 11th century on the site of the Roman Temple of Claudius, with most of the castle park remaining as a Scheduled Monument

We worked on excavating a total 170m of cable trench around the Colchester Castle, through its post-medieval and modern layers, to a depth of 0.8m below current ground level. These newer layers are thought to have been a result of modern garden activities and excavation at the front of the castle in the 19th century.

Interestingly, disarticulated human remains were discovered in three locations of these modern layers that were thought to be dated from the late 16thto 17th centuries from when the Castle Keep was used as a jail

There is documentary evidence that those who had died or took their own lives while in custody, were buried adjacent to the keep and it is thought that the disarticulated remains that were found during these excavations were redeposited in the 19th or 20th century

To learn more about this site, check out CAT Report 1552 at cat.essex.ac.uk.

Written by work experience student Keely.