Colchester: the First Capital of Roman Britain

London is a quick hop from Reykjavik. I think I spent more time waiting to get out of Heath Row (and I didn't even have checked baggage) and taking the train into London proper than I spent in the air. Of course, part of the delay was that I had to buy some wi-fi time to give an ETA to my couch surfing contact for that night. I had (finally, I don't know why I didn't do so years ago) signed up for Couchsurfing, and this was to be my first time trying it out. I spent some time trying to figure out the best means of transport in the UK, only to discover there wasn't one. I didn't really want to be so inefficient as to have a car to myself in a country with public transit (or to learn to drive on the left side of the road), the bus passes were useless since they only work for individual bus companies, which all operate different lines meaning that one can't go across the nation on one bus pass. The rail pass was for all the companies, but only covered fifteen days of travel out of two months, and cost as much as the two months unlimited use pass across the entirety of continental Europe. The buses and trains in the UK are so messed up because Thatcher, in her infinite wisdom, opted for a system that utilizes the worst aspects of monopolies and competitive markets: all of the price and quality of service of a monopoly combined with the cooperation and the simple unified system of competitors at each other's throats.

I ended up taking the full price train Northeast to Colchester, a little town in Essex, East Anglia, that has an unusual castle. The theme of my whole Britain trip was castles and cathedrals, so be prepared for far too many pictures of cornices and battlements, cloisters and dungeons.

I managed to navigate my way to my hosts' house. I stayed with a family whose sons were both around my age. They treated me to a lovely dinner and I enjoyed discussing travel, philosophy, and maths with them. The next day the son who was visiting at the time and his friend took me on a walking tour of the town. Our first stop was the gate of St. John's Abbey. The rest of the Benedictine abbey is gone, but the gatehouse from the 1400s stands despite being bombarded by Parliamentarians during the English Civil War.

A short walk away lays the ruined nave of St. Botolph's priory. The recycled red Roman brick is quite distinctive.

The same Roman brick is part of what gives the castle its unique look. The structure's history goes back millennia to when Colchester was the first capital of the Roman province of Britannia. The location was first a Roman temple to the deified emperor Claudius. The temple was burned down in 61 CE by Boudica, a tribal leader who spearheaded a revolt against the Roman occupation. Despite some early successes (such as burning London to the ground), she and her followers were defeated when they faced the bulk of the Roman army in Britain. 1000 years later the Normans built their widest castle on it, reusing the still rock solid temple foundation and bricks from the Roman town. The castle was used in the 1600s for a jail for imprisoning and interrogating witches. Shortly after that the battlements were torn down and sold as building material by an owner uninterested in history, who also began hauling out the sand from between the arches of the Roman foundation, apparently not realizing that the sand was structurally necessary. The castle was restored, in a sense, by Colchester's member of parliament who was gifted it by his mother-in-law for his wedding. He added the Italianate roof and domed tower, which - combined with the Roman brick - resulted in a structure that would look more at home in Italy than England:

Colchester Castle is now a museum, which is very much worth the price of admission. It gives a clear and well-designed presentation of the history and is full of Roman and medieval artifacts.

The guided tour was highly informative as well, and it is the key to getting down into the vaults and up onto the roof.