Introducing..........
THE ONLY KNOWN ROMAN CIRCUS IN BRITAIN
Scheduled Ancient Monument Number 46327.
In 2005, it gradually dawned on the archaeologists that the remains that they were discovering as part of an evaluation dig for a property developer prior to building works, was, in fact, a Roman circus. Understandably, this caused great excitement in the archaeology world, as no other Roman circus is known in Britain. Over the months that followed, more and more of the foundations were uncovered and the true extent of the circus was discovered.
Apart from a few sporadic small exploratory digs, sadly, there the story of discovery ended. The remains were covered over to preserve them and the weeds began to grow. Many people asked what was to become of the circus. No positive answer was forthcoming. Nobody knew. In order to make something of it, money was needed - a lot of money. Colchester Borough Council pointed out that it had no money to spare. A lottery bid was made - and that failed.
At the present time, there are no signs to lead the curious to the site; no indicators of where this unique ancient monument lies. There is no money available, we are told. But the Roman Circus of Colchester is not forgotten.
This web page........
.......introduces you to the circus, showing you press cuttings from the earliest stages of discovery, through to the current situation. Sadly, we have had to fight to protect our circus, as this was a truly inconvenient discovery for the building company who had bought the land. Luckily, English Heritage saw the imminent threat and the importance of the site and swiftly made it into a Scheduled Ancient Monument. This was fantastic news for Colchester! Effectively, the circus has blighted the owner's prospects for building on the site. The people of Colchester are asking for a small part of the the site to be given back to them so that they can develop it as part of its unique Roman heritage.
In August 2009, the BBC did an interview with Philip Crummy of the Colchester Archaeological Trust concerning the Shared Vision. The interview can be seen here.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8200152.stm
So, as you will see, by following the various links below, all is not well for the circus.
LATEST NEWS!
.
See the 'Plan B' details of the
Colchester Archaeological Trust
by clicking on the following image.
Please follow the links below for more information.
as of January
2011 January to March
2005 with details of the
ongoing excavations work, findings, predictions and
discussions. June 2005 to
January 2008 with details of the
mosaic created by children, the Heritage Lottery Fund
bid and the Time Team visit (and also a section
about the discovery of a Roman bath complex at the
Sixth Form College). UPDATE
FOUR details to
follow
Britain's Roman Towns are unique inheritances from times long past and should be treasured, maintained and safeguarded from neglect, damage and destruction and passed on into perpetuity as irreplaceable 'Timestones of History' Please also take a look at Peter Findley's CGI interpretation of how the circus might once have looked.
To see more of Colchester's heritage sites, please explore the following links:
Heritage
Trail GUIDED TOUR
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