Town Centre Excavations 1971-1985

A Roman Legionary Fortress is a large, fortified permanent Roman military base, made of timber and stone, surrounded by a rampart and ditches. It was established after the Claudian conquest in AD 43 and the 20th Legion (Legio XX Valeria Victrix) was based here. This was the first permanent legionary fortress built in Roman Britain.

After the legion was withdrawn in AD49, the defences were dismantled and the fortress converted into a town known as Camulodunum. The new colonia was founded in AD 49 on the site of the fortress. The town was settled with Roman army veterans – possibly some from the XX Legion itself.

Excavations throughout Colchester have revealed the layout of the legionary fortress, as well as the later rebuilding of the town after the Boudiccan revolt of AD 61.

Lion Walk Excavations 1971-1974

Excavations undertaken on the site of the Lion Walk shopping precinct uncovered large amounts of archaeological material, including the early Roman fortress and its outer defences, as well as later Roman streets and buildings, an Anglo-Saxon hut and post-Roman buildings.

Parts of two mosaics were found (including one depicting a walking lion – the street’s namesake), as well as a wooden bed, bedding and some dates which were all destroyed during the Boudiccan revolt.

Balkerne Lane Excavations 1973-1976

Evidence uncovered during the excavation of Balkerne Lane (now the Balkerne Hill roadway and St Mary’s car park) included an ?aqueduct, water-mains, remains from a Roman roadside food stall, and the entire sequence of Colchester’s defences on the Western side of the town.

This included the construction of the town wall and the town ditch – constructed after the Boudiccan revolt – and the defensive ditch associated with the earlier legionary fortress.

Culver Street Excavations 1981-2 and 1984-5

Works carried out at Culver Street provided further evidence of the early legionary fortress followed by rebuilding of the town after the Boudiccan revolt.

Some areas of the later streets were left open – possibly for cultivation purposes.

Gilberd Excavations 1984-1985

During this excavation, more of the legionary barracks were uncovered and investigated. This consisted of the men’s quarters which would have been in the north-western area of the town. Much of this area was left open for cultivation in post-Boudiccan years.

Further excavations in the area (2003-2006) exposed later Roman houses including further mosaic and tessellated floors.

Middleborough Mosaic 1979

During the Middleborough excavations, an extraordinary mosaic was uncovered.

It is one of several that were laid in a large villa built just outside the town walls of Roman Colchester. This was one was found in Room 7 (the west wing of the building), and is made up of around 250,000 tesserae cubes.

Measuring 4.85×5.2m, it depicts ‘wrestling cupids’, with marine characters or mystical ‘sea beasts’ decorating the edges.

Head Street May-September 2000

An excavation on the site of the old Post Office (now the Odeon Cinema) revealed multiperiod occupation, principally Roman in date. The site lies in Insulas 25b and 33b of the Roman town.

Despite the existence of only one pre-Roman feature, early finds were more plentiful. They included prehistoric flints, a Bronze Age awl, Bronze Age pottery, and two silver Iron Age coins.

The Roman period remains included; a fortress-period plinth building from Period 1: AD 43/44 to 49 with a contemporary gravelled street, colony period buildings from Period 2: c AD 49 to 60/1 which were burnt in the Boudican revolt Period 3: AD 60/, a Flavian and Antonine period house with mortar floors and rubble-in-mortar footings from Period 4: c AD 80 to late 2nd century, and a late Antonine period house with tessellated pavements and an apsidal basin from Period 5: late 2nd to late 3rd century.

Roman Circus 2004-2008

The archaeological remains of Colchester’s Roman Circus were identified during archaeological investigations at the former Colchester Garrison in 2004, although the remains were first discovered in 2000. By the end of 2007, targeted excavations had revealed the basic plan and structure of the Circus. Interventions since have yielded snippets of more information.

The Circus was an arena, consisting of a racing track and tiered seating (known as a cavea), which would have provided up to six tiers of seating for up to c.8000 people. This arena was built specifically for chariot-racing, and would have attracted a large volume of visitors.

Unfortunately, there are no upstanding remains from the Circus. Only the wall foundations survive, although much of this was robbed out in the medieval period. These can be viewed at the Roman Circus Centre. For more for information, please click here.

Colchester Royal Grammar School August-September 2005

Our excavations revealed the well-preserved foundations of a substantial hexagonal Roman structure within a rectangular walled enclosure – a ‘temple-tomb’ as we called it.

The temple-tomb was constructed in the 3rd century AD at the crossroads of two major routes into Roman Colchester. It was associated with two cremation burials within the hexagon, four within the walled area and one outside. We can tell that this was an special building due to the presence of tufa in the construction, as this was reserved for use in important structures such as the triumphal arch at Balkerne gate.

What was particularly interesting however was finding the remains of a sparrowhawk, along with the bones of at least four other young falcons in one of the burials. The inclusion of the sparrowhawk with human remains could suggest that the buried person was a falconer, although we aren’t entirely sure…

Colchester Sixth Form College April 2005-March 2006

These excavations revealed various buildings including a mansio – the Roman equivalent of a hotel – and a well-preserved room thought to be a bath-house or (less likely) a nyphaeum – a shrine to the nymphs. Both were constructed in the late 1st or early 2nd century.

The bath-house was a truly spectacular find, but also caused a conundrum – was it a bath-house or a shrine? Fragments of mosaic floor and painted wall plaster along with a shallow pool in the centre of the room (that caused some issues when excavating!) – it could be that the room was the changing room (apodyterium). A gaming token was also found here, suggesting this was a place of social gathering as well as cleanliness – much like a bath-house…

Former Williams and Griffins (now Fenwick) April-August 2014

Six main periods of activity at the site were identified during the investigations, the most noteworthy being the destruction of the town in AD 61 during the Boudiccan revolt.

Amongst the destruction debris was a variety of domestic resources attesting to a Mediterranean style of living in the heart of 1st-century Colchester. These finds included copper-alloy vessels, ceramic kitchen and tablewares, lamps, and balls of Egyptian blue pigment. Additionally,  a remarkable collection of carbonised foodstuffs were found. These included; cereals, pulses, exotic culinary herbs, spices and fruits such as figs, dates and grapes, many of which were present in large quantities.

The star find of this excavation was the Fenwick Treasure – which included extraordinary metal jewellery and coins.

Mercury Theatre November 2018-December 2020

Excavations at the Mercury Theatre continued to develop our understanding of the Roman Legionary Fortress.

The earliest discoveries were military plinths from the early Roman fortress. Similar plinths from across Colchester have previously been identified as the remains of barrack blocks. Plans of a ‘typical’ barracks, as excavated at Lion Walk and the Gilberd School in the 1970s/80s, were laid-out over the development site, and the plinths from the Mercury Theatre (including those from previous investigations) were found to align. This revealed, for the first time, that a group of six barrack blocks, existed at this location in the fortress.

There was evidence of reuse of the barracks in the colonia (Roman settlement established later), and it is clear that they were still standing in AD60/61 as they were destroyed during the Boudiccan revolt. By the late 2nd century at least one, but probably two, town-houses had been built. Nineteen rooms were uncovered, twelve of which had in situ tessellated floors. Large quantities of painted wall plaster were also recovered from the floors, likely fallen from the walls during a long period of dilapidation and decay after the roofs had been removed.

Former ‘Jacks’ 5-6 St Nicholas Street June-July 2019

Jacks was located within Insula 30 of the walled Roman town close to the Temple of Claudius, and the buildings themselves date from the late 15th to early 17th century.

Trial holes revealed multiple layers and building remains, evidencing a variety of different time periods, ranging from the Boudiccan revolt AD 60/1 through the medieval to the modern day.

Jacks was particularly interesting as excavation revealed three phases of Roman activity. Phase 1 is of early Roman date, ending at the Boudiccan revolt of AD 60/1 and phase 2 dates from the early 2nd to the 3rd century; both phases 1 and 2 have structural remains! By Phase 3 at least part of the Phase 2 building had been demolished although some walls were still standing. A ‘charcoal horizon’ dated to the late 4th century covers the site and suggests there was a fire at the end of the phase.