Colchester Castle

Colchester Castle is a Norman castle in Colchester, Essex, England dating from the second half of the eleventh century. The keep of the castle is mostly intact and is the largest example of its kind anywhere in Europe, due to it being built on the foundations of a Roman temple. The castle endured a three month siege in 1216, but had fallen into disrepair by the seventeenth century when the curtain walls and some of the keep's upper parts were demolished; its original height is debated. The remaining structure was used as a prison and a was partially restored as a large garden pavilion, but was purchased by Colchester Borough Council in 1922. The castle has housed Colchester Museum since 1860 which has an important collection of Roman exhibits. It is a scheduled monument and a Grade I listed building.

The attribution of the castle as a royal foundation is based on a charter of Henry I dated 1101, granting the town and castle of Colchester to Eudo Dapifer "as my father had them and my brother and myself", Henry's father and brother being William I, "William the Conqueror", and William II, "William Rufus". The somewhat unreliable Colchester Chronicle, written in the late 13th century, credits Eudo with the construction of the castle and gives a commencement date of 1076. The design of the castle has been associated with Gundulf of Rochester purely on the basis of the similarities between Colchester and the White Tower at the Tower of London; however, both keeps also resemble the much earlier example at Château d'Ivry-la-Bataille in Upper Normandy.

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