British Place Names

Colchester, Essex

Location Map

Colchester is a town in Essex

Other current and historical names

Location and coordinates are for the approximate centre of Colchester within this administrative area. Geographic features and populated places may cross administrative borders.

Colchester in historic gazetteers

Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887). John Bartholomew

Colchester, parl. and mun. bor., market town, and river port, E. Essex, on S. bank of river Colne, 52 miles NE. of London by rail, 11,314 ac., pop. 28,374; 4 Banks, 7 newspapers. Market-day, Saturday. C. is of great antiquity. It was the Camalodunum of the Romans; the Colneceaster of the Saxons; and a favourite stronghold of the Danes. The Roman walls remain almost entire, and Roman remains, including villas, with tesselated pavements, hypocausts, and baths, Samian pottery, and coins, have been found in the greatest profusion. The castle (12th century) is the largest Norman keep in England. C. is the centre of a large agricultural district, and has extensive corn and cattle markets. Corn, malt, and oysters are exported from its port and suburb, Hythe, 15 miles from the sea. (For shipping statistics, see Appendix.) The oyster fishery, however, is not so extensive as it once was. The baize mfr. has also declined, and is superseded by silk, more especially the kind employed for umbrellas. Among the minor industrial establishments are flour-mills, engineering works, rope-yards, and lime-kilns. C. returns 1 member to Parl.

Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887). John Bartholomew

St Botolph.-- par. and ry. sta., Essex, wholly within the bor. of Colchester, 905 ac., pop. 5707; the sta. is 2½ miles SE. of Colchester sta.

Colchester in the Domesday Book

A village in Colchester hundred, in the county of Essex.

17 manors recorded in Domesday.

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