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If you visit anywhere in Essex, it should be COLCHESTER , an
agreeable town with a castle, a university and a large army base, fifty
miles or so northeast of London. More than anything else, Colchester
prides itself on being England's oldest town and there is documentary
evidence of a settlement here as early as the fifth century BC. By the
first century AD, the town was the region's capital and when the Romans
invaded Britain in 43 AD they chose Colchester (Camulodunum) as their
new capital, though it was soon eclipsed by London, becoming a
retirement colony for legionaries instead. A millennium later, the
conquering Normans built one of their mightiest strongholds in
Colchester, but the conflict that most marked the town was the Civil War.
In 1648, Colchester was subjected to a gruelling siege by the
Parliamentarian army led by Lord Fairfax; after three months, during
which the population ate every living creature within the walls, the
town finally surrendered and the Royalist leaders were promptly executed
for their pains.
Today, Colchester makes a good base for further explorations of the
surrounding countryside - particularly the Stour valley towns of
Constable country, within easy reach to the north
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