Colchester Roman Walls: A Local Guide to Britain’s Oldest Town Wall

Most people who come to Colchester know, in a vague way, that the Colchester Roman walls exist. They might notice a stretch of old stonework at the edge of a car park, or pass the Balkerne Gate on the way somewhere else without quite registering what they are looking at. The walls reward a more deliberate visit. Two-thirds of the original circuit is still standing, running for nearly 1¾ miles through and around the modern city, and the sections that survive are substantial enough to be properly impressive rather than merely historically interesting.

The Colchester Roman Walls: Britain's Oldest Town Wall

Colchester, known to the Romans as Camulodunum, was the first capital of Roman Britain. Boudicca's revolt around AD 60–61 left it in ruins, and the walls were built in the aftermath, between AD 65 and 80, by Roman legionaries and local Britons working together to rebuild what had been destroyed. The construction of the Colchester Roman walls required an estimated 40,000 tonnes of material. The walls stood six metres high and extended for 2,800 metres around the town. What survives today represents the oldest, best-preserved, and longest Roman town walls in Britain.

The walls are unusual not just for their age and scale but for the way they have been absorbed into the fabric of the city across successive centuries. Medieval builders quarried them for stone. Victorian builders worked around them and occasionally through them. The Dutch Quarter, one of the more interesting parts of Colchester for a wander, sits entirely within the old walled perimeter.

You can walk past substantial stretches of Roman masonry at the edge of Castle Park, or find thin reddish Roman bricks incorporated into the arches of St Botolph's Priory, a medieval ruin that itself stands close to the original wall line. The entire Colchester Roman walls circuit is free to visit, and metal plaques embedded in the pavement at key points around the route help you follow it without a guide.

The Balkerne Gate

The strongest reason to begin on the western side of town is the Balkerne Gate, on Balkerne Hill, which is the oldest and largest surviving Roman gateway in Britain. It was originally constructed as a Triumphal Arch marking the Emperor Claudius's conquest of Britannia and was later incorporated into the main town wall as the principal western entrance. A Roman Guardroom survives next to it, and the scale of the gateway structure, even in its current state, gives a clear sense of what the original would have looked like standing at full height.

The Hole in the Wall pub has been built directly into the upper portion of the gate's remains, which is either a satisfying piece of continuity or a mildly eccentric piece of conservation, depending on your disposition. The pub takes its name from the Roman archway visible from the pavement outside.

There is an interpretation panel beside it with detail on the history of the gate, and the Guardroom remains are visible from the street without needing to go inside anywhere. From here, the circuit runs south and east through the centre of town, making the gate a natural starting point for a self-guided walk.

Walking the Colchester Roman Walls Circuit

The sections worth making time for, in roughly the order you would encounter them walking south and east from Balkerne Gate:

Castle Park holds what is generally described as the most impressive surviving section of the internal Roman rampart. The wall cuts across the width of the park, and you can follow it along the northern edge and at the raised end behind Colchester Castle, which itself was built on the foundations of the Roman Temple of Claudius.

If you have already visited Colchester Castle, the Roman wall section in the park is a natural continuation of the same morning. Our guide to visiting Colchester Castle covers what to expect inside, and the park itself is worth time in its own right. The wall here stands to a reasonable height, and the sheer thickness of the original construction becomes apparent when you see it at close range.

Priory Street and St Botolph's Priory

Priory Street runs along the southern edge of the wall circuit and past the ruins of St Botolph's Priory, the oldest Augustinian priory in England, founded in the late eleventh century.

Here, the medieval builders incorporated Roman bricks from the original wall directly into the priory's arches and remaining walls. The colour difference is visible even to a non-specialist: the thin, reddish-orange Roman brick sits against later grey stone in a way that tells you exactly how old each layer is. It is a short detour from the main route and worth taking, if only because it makes the recycling of Roman material by later builders so vivid and legible.

Once you start looking for that characteristic thin reddish-orange Roman brick, you find it in unexpected places around Colchester: in garden walls, in the lower courses of Victorian terraces, tucked into the fabric of pub walls and back street buildings throughout the town centre. The builders of medieval and Victorian Colchester were entirely unsentimental about history and used what was available to them. Walking the city with that knowledge changes how you look at it.

The third gate worth finding is Duncan's Gate, a small postern gate named after Dr PM Duncan, a 19th-century archaeologist and former Mayor of Colchester who led some of the earliest systematic excavations of the site. Where the Balkerne Gate is the grand main entrance, Duncan's Gate would have been wide enough for a single cart, with a guard tower built above it. It is smaller and easier to miss than Balkerne Gate, and it fills in the picture of how the original six-gate circuit was organised without making a great deal of fuss about itself.

Practical Notes for the Visit

A walking guide to the Colchester Roman walls and medieval gates is available from the Visitor Information Centre on Queen Street for £1. It covers the original Roman gates as well as the later medieval additions, and the walk is supplemented by interpretation panels at the major sites. The Ancient Colchester App is free to download and provides audio content for a self-guided tour.

Jess Jephcott, a local history specialist, runs free guided walks along the circuit on the last Sunday of every other month, excluding July, August, and September. They start from the Balkerne Gate at midday and typically last around two hours. The Colchester Visitor Information Centre also organises guided tours that include the walls, and Heritage Open Days in September occasionally bring additional access events and specialist-led walks. If you want more than the interpretation panels give you, either route is worth exploring before your visit.

Where to Stay

For anyone coming to Colchester specifically to walk the Roman walls, Number 11, Colchester and The Round House, Colchester are both within easy walking distance of the main wall circuit. Number 11 is a two-bedroom Victorian terrace, fully stocked and with free parking outside, a short walk from both the Balkerne Gate on the western edge of town and Castle Park to the east. The Round House is similarly placed. Both properties welcome dogs, which suits the route well given that the wall circuit follows public streets and park areas throughout.

All four Clever Cottages properties offer self-check-in from 3pm, so there is no coordination needed on arrival and you can get out into the city immediately. The properties are not suitable for guests with mobility difficulties, as the stairs in all four are steep, so if that applies to anyone in your party it is worth checking the property details carefully before booking. Booking directly through our website means you'll have Kate's direct contact from the outset, without going through a platform.

For a wider picture of what the city has to offer, the things to do in Colchester guide covers the full range. The dog walks in Colchester guide is worth a look if you are planning to combine the walls walk with a proper outing for the dog.

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