Colchester Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

In the heart of Castle Park, Colchester Castle is the largest known Norman keep, considerably bigger than the White Tower in London. Its distinctive feature lies in its foundations: the Norman builders raised their fortress on the podium of the Temple of Claudius, the largest known classical temple in Britain and the centre of the imperial cult in the province. Begun in the late 1060s or in the 1070s by Eudo Dapifer for William the Conqueror, the keep then served as a prison for more than six centuries. It came through the siege of Colchester in 1648, then narrowly escaped destruction when a buyer tried in 1683 to dismantle it and sell off its materials. Saved in the 18th century by the antiquarian Charles Gray, it became a museum as early as 1860, municipal property in 1919, and was roofed in 1934-1935. It now houses the Colchester Castle Museum, devoted to the history of Britain's oldest recorded Roman town.