Walled 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'
For a virtual guided tour of the walls please go here.
This web page was set up to highlight the poor condition of our walls. Since it was set up. Colchester Borough Council have worked really hard to rectify the situation, with considerable repairs having been carried out on the Priory Street and the east wall sections. Sdaly there are several other areas that are in poor condition and we can only hope that repairs will be forthcoming before it is too late.
The pictures shows one of the best preserved and most complete sections of Colchester's Roman wall. This section is on the west of the town and is looking north towards what is known as Balkerne Gate.
This is the same section of wall but looking south.
Sadly, whilst this is the best preserved part of the entire wall (despite the encroaching vegetation), elsewhere, Colchester's Roman Wall is falling to pieces. There are signs that Colchester is finally waking up to what is happening, with repairs to one of the medieval bastions started in January 2005 and mention of further funding for other work in the pipeline.
Our 3100 metre long wall was built during the Roman occupation nearly 2000 years ago.
This web page has been put up to try and draw attention to state of our walls.
For a virtual guided tour of the walls please go here.
Roman Colchester, 2nd to 4th Century
showing the principal gates mentioned on this page
Medieval Colchester, c1500
repeating the principal Roman gate positions and adding Rye Gate (10), together with the medieval bastions.
A section of the wall in Priory Street (just 100m to the south of East Gate) was splendidly repaired in 2005, after damage caused by vehicles and vegetation. A sum of £50,000 was agreed for repairs according to the Evening Gazette of 25 March 2004 and it took until January 2005 for the work to start.
This is the repaired section in June 2005. Note the use of modern brick in the Roman wall, something that would have been done through the ages when repairs were necessary!
This is a wider view of the repaired section. What is to stop the vehicle damage from happening again?
For a virtual guided tour of the walls please go here.
Our Town Walls are both scheduled and listed as Grade 1. As such, they enjoy the protection of:
'To protect archaeological sites for future generations, the most valuable of them may be scheduled. Scheduling is the system which gives legal protection to nationally important archaeological sites in England.
'Scheduling' is shorthand for the process through which nationally important sites and monuments are given legal protection by being placed on a list, or 'schedule'. English Heritage takes the lead in identifying sites in England which should be placed on the schedule by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
Scheduling is the only legal protection specifically for archaeological sites.
Scheduling is applied only to sites of national importance, and even then only if it is the best means of protection. Only deliberately created structures, features and remains can be scheduled.
Buildings and standing structures of historic interest, especially if they are or can be made usable, are generally best protected by listing, where the emphasis is on continuing active use.
English Heritage is the main national body with the task of identifying and protecting this inheritance, which we do by recommending 'listing' or earmarking the most important buildings. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport make the final decisions on listing.
The word 'listing' is a short-hand term used to describe one of a number of legal procedures which help English Heritage to protect the best of our architectural heritage. When buildings are listed they are placed on statutory lists of buildings of 'special architectural or historic interest' compiled by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
Listed buildings are graded to show their relative importance:
