The last few posts on my blog, I’ve shown you images from Philip Morant’s 1748 book on Colchester

“The History and Antiquities of the most ancient town and borough of Colchester”

Today’s post shows some of the images from his book

Below is Morant’s description of the Castle.

This stately pile stands on the north-side of the High-Street, almost opposite to All Saints Church. It is a square of about 224 yards in circumference on the outside, all projections and windings included. The four sides lie nearly to the four principal points of the compass. The building consists of the outer walls 12 feet thick in the lower story, and 11 in the upper, flanked at the corners, with strong and lofty towers: On the inside there run, north and south, two strong parallel walls, which served for partitions and supports to the several apartments, but the greatest part of the westernmost wall is taken down. The easternmost is built in the Roman, that is, the herringbone fashion.”

The gate of the Castle is on the south-side; and within, on the left hand, and in the south-west tower, is the grand staircase. On the right hand as you go in, is a large vault above ground, well arched; over which, out door leading from the grand staircase, was the passage into the chapel: This stands in the south-east tower, or rather bastion, being strongly arched at the top; the length of it from east to west, is 47 feet; the width of it from north to south 40 feet, where widest; and the height proportion able. Below it is a good arched vault, now used for a prison; or bridewell.”

Within the ground, under the. greatest part of the Castle, there are side and spacious vaults; they were discovered not above seventy years ago, being full of sand on which the arches were turned; the sand was taken out at a considerable expense, by John Wheely, who was endeavouring to pull the Castle down; and, to carry off the sand, he cut a cart-way through the foundation-wall near the north-east corner, where the wall is 30 feet thick, but it did not answer expectation. The partition in these vaults supporting the arches, is exactly in the form of a cross.

Taken from “The History and Antiquities of the Most Ancient Town and Borough of Colchester in the County of Essex”

South East View of Colchester Castle, 1748

North-East view of Colchester Castle, 1748

Learn more about Colchester Castle and the role it played during Essex’s witchcraft trials of the 16th and 17th century from my online course

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