The Colchester Archaeologist

After a good summer, the Roman Circus Visitor is now closed for the winter. If you have visited us this year, many thanks for your interest and support. If you have never been before, well please consider calling in next year and having a look around. We will be open again from Tuesday 9th April 2019 (the school holidays) until Saturday 28th September 2019, Tuesdays to Saturdays 11.00am – 4.00 pm. As usual, we will be closed on Sundays and Mondays except on the Bank Holiday Mondays which fall during this period. (Opening times as normal.)

We are always pleased to get feedback from our visitors so we offer them forms to fill in if they want to. This is what they told us this year. Nothing here omitted, added or edited! As usual, the lack of decent signage was highlighted by our visitors as the negative point and the consequent difficulty some of them had in finding us.  From the very beginning, we have been trying hard to tackle this problem but unfortunately this is something which is beyond our control and therefore remains difficult to solve. We’re not beaten yet though…! . Customer feedback [read more…]

Natasha, Fiona, Gerry, and Howard, the four members of Quattro Amici, accompanied by Joe Richardson on keyboard did us proud in the Roman Circus Centre with their sell-out concert last night when we were treated to two hours of songs chosen to suit all tastes. In particular I loved The Flower Duet (Lakmé), a famous and very familiar piece of music, beautifully sung by soprano Natasha and mezzo-soprano Fiona. And Gerry’s Core ‘ngrato was truly something else – powerfully rendered in his great tenor voice and very moving with it. And then, not to be outdone, there was Bring him home from Les Misérables by our very [read more…]

National Heritage Open Day at the Roman Circus Centre was a free fun day for all the family. Tours, quizzes, games, and more were all on offer. About twenty-nine volunteers and archaeologists all helped to make the day a success. The centre was buzzing and visitors seemed to like it. We certainly did. If you wish you had been there, why not come and join us on our next Heritage Open Day? We aim to make the next one even better. The exact date can’t be fixed yet (depends on the rest of Colchester) but it’ll be on either Saturday [read more…]

An evaluation followed by an excavation on the northern side of Coggeshall has uncovered three ring-ditches. Unlike the ring-ditches recently excavated in northern Colchester which were possible burial places, these were almost certainly prehistoric house sites – with the ring-ditches being ‘eaves-drip gullies’ – drains around circular houses, perhaps enhanced by rainwater running off the conical roofs. Other features such as pits and ditches indicate this was an Iron Age settlement site. There is clear evidence of Roman settlement in Coggeshall, but its earlier history is unknown. So, this Iron Age site is a major contribution to our understanding of [read more…]