THE past is opening up this weekend as part of this year’s Heritage Open Days.

Tomorrow and Sunday will see many buildings not normally accessible to the public, open up for free.

There is a whole range of things to see, including the Colne Lightship, the site of the only Roman Circus in Britain, as well as a number of the area’s churches and chapels, plus performances and tours bringing local history to life.

Highlights over the weekend include the Tudor Days of Science, which will take place in a number of properties along Trinity Street including Tymperleys, Holy Trinity Church and the original hall of Tymperleys, which now houses the Colchester Bookshop.

Running tomorrow and Sunday from 10.30am to 5.30pm, there will be food, music and experiments celebrating the life and work of Tudor scientist William Gilberd.

At the Colchester Arts Centre there will be two talks, the first tomorrow from 8pm by Jennie Guthrie Stephens about Philip Morant, the acclaimed historian, churchman and antiquarian who is considered to be one of Colchester’s most notable citizens, and then on Sunday from 7.30pm when Brian Light, chairman of Balkerne Tower Trust, talks about the history and the future of Colchester’s famous water tower, Jumbo.

Entry is £5.

On Sunday from 10am to 4pm at Boxted Airfield Museum, Langham Lane, Langham, there will be a special free open day with guided tours throughout the day. Visitors can see the B26 Marauder aircraft 'Mr Shorty' as well as hear the story of one family’s emotional journey.

The Second World War American airfield, later RAF, was one of the most successful American units in Europe, home to the 56 and 354 fighter groups, 386 bomb group and American air sea rescue unit.

For more information go on-line at www.boxted-airfield.com

Also on Sunday there will be a costumed, guided tour of the town, with the Siege of Colchester at 11am and Roman Colchester at 3pm.

They both start at the war memorial, outside the main entrance to Castle Park.

Running alongside the Heritage Open Day Weekends is the Radical Essex Architecture Weekend, a programme of tours and events celebrating the county’s pioneering role in 20th century architecture.

The weekend centres around the county’s three key modernist estates, Silver End, Bata East Tilbury and Frinton-on-Sea and throughout Saturday and Sunday, Silver End Village will act as a base, hosting a programme of talks, music and events, featuring the likes of Jonathan Meades, Rachel Lichtenstein and St Etienne's Bob Stanley, who will be performing a special DJ set from 6.30pm tomorrow.

Alongside the events three new artistic and architectural commissions, one by Colchester based architects HAT Projects.

Also as part of the weekend there will be tours of the brutalist towers at Essex University and at St Mary’s Hall, in Rawston Road, Colchester, Purcell Architects will be showing the story of St Mary’s Hall, built in 1899, and talk about details of other local projects they have been involved with.

Visitors will be free to wander around the space and staff will be in there from 10am to 3pm tomorrow to answer questions.

For more information go on-line at www.radicalessex.uk or for the rest of the Heritage Open Day events, www.cimuseums.org.uk/HODs2016

Our Top Five Heritage Picks of the Weekend

Roman Circus, Roman Circus Walk, off Butt Road, tomorrow, 10am to 4pm.

Guided tours of the site of Britain’s only known Roman Circus, a horse racing stadium, as well as Roman Circus House, formerly a Navy, Army and Air Force Institute and now the offices and stores of the Colchester Archaeological Trust. Tours of the centre take place at 12.30pm and 1.30pm. There will also be NAAFI recipe cakes in the tearoom and vintage military vehicles in the garden.

St Helen's Chapel St Helen’s Lane, tomorrow, 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 4.30pm, Sunday, 2pm to 4.30pm.

Medieval chapel, first mentioned in 1076 but Saxon in origin. It was built on Roman foundations and rebuilt several times and is now used as a Greek Orthodox Church.

Colchester Royal Grammar School, Lexden Road, tomorrow, 10am to 12pm. Talks at 10.20am, 11am and 11.40am. Tours at 10.30am, 11am and 11.30am.

Relocating to its present site from Culver Street in 1853, many of the buildings are in the mock Tudor style in homage to the school’s two Royal Charters of 1539 and 1584. The gardens are of particular note with several rare trees and flowering shrubs.

Colchester Town Hall, High Street, tomorrow and Sunday. Tours at 10am and 11.30am.

Commissioned as part of an architectural competition and built between 1897 to 1902, the clock tower, built to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee and

named the Victoria Tower, is topped by a bronze figure of St Helena. Inside there's the imposing staircase with seated statue of Queen Victoria, the mayoral suite and the Council Chamber to explore.

Peake’s House, East Stockwell Street, tomorrow and Sunday, 10am to 4pm.

An attractive timber-framed house, dating back to the late 14th century and converted into a three-storey house around 1550. Now managed by the Landmark Trust.