Discover Colchester
Places to visit in Colchester
Discover local landmarks and their stories. Open a place guide to plan your visit, or explore the city with a self-guided quest.
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Colchester
St John's Abbey Gate
St John's Abbey Gate in Colchester is the 15th-century gatehouse of the Benedictine St John's Abbey, and the best-preserved part of the abbey that is still standing. It faces St John's Green on the edge of the town centr…
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Colchester
The Obelisk
The Obelisk is a memorial in Castle Park, Colchester, on Mayor's Walk, marking the spot where the Royalist commanders Sir George Lisle and Sir Charles Lucas were shot by firing squad on 28 August 1648. It is a quiet ston…
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Colchester
The Mersea Island Museum
The Mersea Island Museum is a small local history museum at 12 High Street in West Mersea, on Mersea Island near Colchester in Essex. It collects and shows the story of island life, from its seafaring and fishing past to…
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Colchester
West Mersea War Memorial
The West Mersea War Memorial stands on the High Street in West Mersea, on Mersea Island near Colchester. It lists the local men who died in the First World War, the Second World War and the Korean War. It is a short, qui…
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Colchester
The Balkerne Gate
The Balkerne Gate is the largest surviving Roman gateway in Britain, built into Colchester's town wall around the first century, when this was the Roman capital of the province. You can still walk through the pedestrian …
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Colchester
Colchester Castle
Colchester Castle is a Norman keep in the centre of Colchester, Essex, ordered by William the Conqueror in the 1070s. It is the largest keep of its kind in England, and it sits on the foundations of a Roman temple, so on…
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Colchester
The Colchester War Memorial
The Colchester War Memorial stands on the High Street in Colchester, Essex, in the middle of the town's historic centre. Like any war memorial, it is a place to pause and remember the people from the community who were l…
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Colchester
St Botolph's Priory
St Botolph's Priory in Colchester is the ruin of a Norman priory church, founded around 1100 and widely described as the first Augustinian priory in England. Built partly from recycled Roman brick, it was wrecked during …
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Colchester
The Roman Church / Mithraeum
The Roman Church, also labelled the Mithraeum, is a set of ruined late Roman foundations on Southway in Colchester, Essex. It is believed to be a building from the fourth century, and archaeologists have long debated whe…
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Colchester
The Berryfield Mosaic
The Berryfield Mosaic is a Roman floor mosaic from Colchester, discovered nearby in 1923 and dated to around 200 CE. It once decorated the dining room of a wealthy home in Camulodunum, as Roman Colchester was known, and …
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Colchester
Balkerne Gate
Balkerne Gate in Colchester is the largest surviving Roman gateway in Britain. It stood on the western edge of Roman Camulodunum, the first Roman colony in Britain, and its weathered remains show how the town was guarded…
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Colchester
Jumbo Water Tower
Jumbo Water Tower, officially the Balkerne Water Tower, is a Victorian landmark in Colchester, Essex, built in the early 1880s from about 1.2 million bricks. It rises beside Balkerne Gate, the largest surviving Roman gat…
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Colchester
Temple of Claudius
The Temple of Claudius in Colchester was the grandest classical temple in Roman Britain, built in the first century AD in what was then Camulodunum. Its massive stone base still survives as vaults beneath Colchester Cast…
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Colchester
Mercury Theatre
The Mercury Theatre is Colchester's main producing theatre, opened in 1972 beside Balkerne Gate, the largest surviving Roman gateway in Britain. It takes its name from a small Roman bronze of the god Mercury found near t…
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Explore Colchester on a quest
Follow a story and solve clues at your own pace. Open a quest to check its route, languages and access options.
Exodus Hinge & Colchester’s Lost Centurion: Roman Britain Walking Tour & Escape Game
88 min · EN
Places on this quest: Colchester Castle · The Balkerne Gate
Murder Mystery: Death in the Shadows in Colchester
90 min · EN · DE · ES · FR · RO · IT
Places on this quest: Mercury Theatre · Temple of Claudius
Historic Colchester: The Roman Visitor Walking Tour & Escape Game
80 min · EN
Places on this quest: The Berryfield Mosaic · The Roman Church / Mithraeum
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