Colchester Castle

The castle belongs to the generation of stone keeps thrown up after the Norman Conquest to impress Norman authority upon the conquered Anglo-Saxons; alongside the White Tower in London, it is one of the earliest stone towers in England. A charter of Henry I dated 1101 granted the town and castle to Eudo Dapifer, "as my father had them and my brother and myself", pointing to a royal foundation under William the Conqueror. The late thirteenth-century Colchester Chronicle — a somewhat unreliable witness — credits Eudo with the building and gives a start date of 1076. Its keep measures 152 by 112 feet, one and a half times the ground plan of the White Tower, and a large apse projects from the south-east corner, though there is no firm evidence a chapel like St John's ever stood within.

Colchester saw real war. In 1214 the hereditary constable, William de Lanvalai, sided with the barons against King John, and though Magna Carta provided that the castle be returned to him, John soon repudiated the charter and the First Barons' War began. A French contingent garrisoned the castle for the barons; the siege ran from January 1216 until March, when John himself arrived and the French garrison of 116 men negotiated safe passage to London — where they were arrested anyway. The castle changed hands again in a truce in 1217 before Henry III recovered it under the Treaty of Lambeth.

By the seventeenth century the castle had fallen into disrepair. The curtain walls and some of the keep's upper parts were demolished — which is why its original height is still debated, with scholars arguing variously for four storeys, three, or perhaps only ever two. The remaining structure served as a prison, was partially restored as a large garden pavilion, has housed Colchester Museum since 1860, and was bought by Colchester Borough Council in 1922. It is a scheduled monument and a Grade I listed building.

The castle stands in Castle Park, which takes its name from it, at the western end of the old walled town — unusually close to the town centre, since Norman castles were more often built into a town's outer defences. Inside, Colchester Museum holds an important collection of Roman exhibits, which is the best possible preparation for understanding what lies beneath your feet: the base of the Temple of Claudius. Outside, the surviving northern rampart, heavily landscaped in the nineteenth century, still marks the line of the bailey defences.

If you would rather see the keep after dark, organised public ghost hunts are run at the venue by event companies; check ahead for dates and book in advance. Wear sensible footwear and a warm layer — this is an eleventh-century stone building, and it holds the cold.