![]() And then I dash back through the Battis to South Street. The town doesn’t seem particularly proud of its eponymous river. The Rom is only a couple of feet wide and then disappears under the new Sainsbury. It’s sealed off by more wire mesh, though someone has, with some dexterity, managed to chuck a shopping trolley over the top and it lies broken and half submerged in the water. Round the back of Sainsbury the Battis reaches the River Rom. Mercifully I make it through and even pass a couple of people carrying shopping bags. It’s a narrow corridor that might as well say ‘please mug me, bruv’. On my right is a 1980s football-pen style high wire fence. On the left are huge cavernous railway arches, sealed off with wire netting. So while visiting Romford it was with some trepidation I stepped past the shop backs and into the Battis. She told me: “My mum and dad were quite relaxed and easy going but when I was a teenager the one thing they said to me was ‘we don’t care where you go, but whatever you do don’t go up the Battis!’” My pal Katie, a former Romfordian turned Islingtonian, reveals that the Battis was the stuff of childhood nightmares, a sort of Lord of the Rings netherworld terrorised by Romford Orcs. Next to Romford station is a dingy alleyway running alongside the railway arches called The Battis. Proof indeed that Essex is well hard and should still be the capital of the UK. Before the Romans invaded in AD43 Colchester was Camulodunum, meaning 'the Fortress of Camulos" - the Celtic god of war. There's also a futuristic £28m Firstsite art gallery that looks a like an upturned Sydney Opera House and has works by the likes of Andy Warhol and Sarah Lucas.Īnother interesting fact is that when the Romans invaded they regarded Cunobelin, the king of the Thinovantes tribe of Essex, as the king of all England. The Christmas market and old buildings all added to the charm of Britain's oldest town. That is unless the bullet holes were just the result of spilling someone pint.Ĭolchester is hilly for Essex, and much more East Anglian in feel than Estuary Essex. Stretches of the Roman wall around the city could rival Hadrian's Wall and there's the best-preserved Roman gateway in Britain in the Balkerne Gate.Īnother piece to get Time Team buffs salivating is the Old Siege House restaurant where bullet holes from the civil war battle are still visible in the timbers. Opposite was the pre-Norman Holy Trinity Church built from recycled Roman bricks and now a cafe with Tudor dancing.Ĭolchester Castle is also constructed from recycled Roman materials and you can stand in the very Roman vaults that were sacked by Boudica and see pottery blackened by the Iceni's fires. We stayed in the excellent Trinity Town House B & B, which was the home of John Wilbye, composer of the first Madrigal in the 16th century. For the history buff there's a bit of everything. Just celebrated my wedding anniversary in Colchester - and what an underrated place it is. ![]()
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