Colchester Castle located in the southeastern part of England, in Colchester, Essex. The castle is an example of a largely complete Norman castle.
Colchester Castle, near the center of the walled town, has by far the largest ground area of any keep in England, measuring 150 by 110 feet.
William the Conqueror founded a castle here soon after the Norman Conquest and the keep may have been started following a Danish raid on the town in 1071. The masonry is certainly early Norman – note for example the herringbone work in the fireplaces.
The keep has affinities with the Tower of London’s White Tower, so much so that the builder of the latter, Bishop Gundulf of Rochester, is often credited with the design. However, it is possible that a destroyed keep at Rouen provided the model for both. The chief similarity is the apsidal projection at the south end of the east wall. In some respects the Colchester keep is quite different; it is much more rectangular in plan, there are projecting towers rather than mere buttresses at the corners and the keep was originally divided by two cross-walls, so that the eastern half contained two curiously long and narrow apartments.
Only the eastern cross wall still stands. The apse shows where a chapel was intended, but the keep now appears peculiarly squat in relation to its area because only the two lower floors survive. Traces of walled-up battlements reveal that, when only one story high, an embattled parapet capped the keep. This may have been done as an emergency measure in 1083 when a Danish invasion seemed imminent. The next level must have followed soon after.
In 1215, the castle was besieged and eventually captured by King John. The castle has had various uses since it ceased to be a Royal castle. It has been a county prison. In 1629, the Castle was purchased by local businessman, John Wheeler. His intention was to demolish the castle and sell the raw materials to local builders but he went bankrupt.
In 1727 the castle was bought by the Member of Parliament for Colchester Charles Gray, as a wedding gift, who set about restoring it and added the present day Italianate façade and tower as he believed it to be a Roman structure. Charles Gray also added a study, library and the red tiled roof that is still visible today. The crypt was open to the public in 1860 as a museum.
Further restoration took place in the 1930s after the local council had acquired the building and grounds and in 1983 an extensive building project began to stabilise the old castle Keep. Work on Colchester Castle was completed in 1992 and is now home to the Colchester and Essex Museum and open to the public.