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In 1887, John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles described Colchester like this:
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 has also declined, and is superseded by silk, more especially the kind employed for umbrellas.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.
Colchester is now part of COLCHESTER District. Click here for graphs and data of how COLCHESTER has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Colchester itself, go to Statistics.
How to reference this page:
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Colchester in Essex | Map and description, A Vision of Ireland through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofireland.org/place/893
Date accessed: 10th February 2026
Click here for more detailed advice on finding places within A Vision of Ireland through Time, and maybe some references to other places called "Colchester".
