COLCHESTER’S most famous landmarks have been painstakingly recreated by historical experts... in biscuit form.

Setting themselves a difficult, but delicious, challenge, the teams from Colchester Museums and Visit Colchester faced off against each other over the weekend.

Each was tasked with building a scaled down version of one of the town’s most iconic buildings - Colchester Castle and St Botolph’s Priory.

But instead of bricks and mortar the teams used bourbons, digestives, Garibaldi’s and Wilkin and Sons jam to create their showstopping centrepieces.

The challenge was inspired by a viral post from Reading Museum, which saw mischievous museum staff create a Roman amphitheatre out of pink wafers - leading to a hysterical reaction on Twitter.

Their finished creations brought smiles to residents on social media and have led to the teams calling out their rivals in other towns, asking if they can do better.

Gazette:

  • St Botolph's Priory for real and in biscuit form

Philip Wise, heritage manager for Colchester Museums, said the creations were, surprisingly, actually quite historically accurate.

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He said: “I think the version of St Botolph’s really captures the essence of the building.

“It shows the monumentality of the construction.

“It is built of large blocks of standing columns, the bourbons, which is just like the real thing.

“The semi circle Party Rings capture the arches.

“It really captures the architectural design of the Norman building.

“The castle model features a large selection of biscuits.

“It captures the variety of the building materials used in the construction of the castle itself.

“I like the use of bourbons to form the roof. They are perhaps a bit too brown to be the real roof, but a nice touch.

“There is even the tree on top like the real thing.”

He added: “The attention to detail in both is very good.”

Gazette:

  • Colchester Castle was recreated in biscuit form 

Although the old home of the Temple of Claudius at the centre of the Roman capital of Britain, Colchester Castle was in fact built by the Normans in the 11th century, just before St Botolph’s is believed to have been founded.

Both are scheduled ancient monuments and considered two of the best surviving Norman buildings in Britain.

Sadly, their creations in biscuit are unlikely to last 900-years like the real things due to their wafer thin walls.

Mr Wise said: “It seems to have provided both an opportunity to have a bit of fun at quite a difficult time for everyone, given what is going on with Covid, and also there is a more serious point in that my colleagues are drawing attention to the Norman architecture of Colchester.

“By focusing on these two buildings they are reminding people on their doorsteps are two of the most significant Norman buildings in Britain.

“It is a light hearted way of reminding people these buildings are here.”

He added: “When we are able to get out again they are well worth a visit and hopefully people will find their way back to our historical sites.”

Julie Young, councillor responsible for culture and performance, added: “This is what I call heritage in the making, in the most delicious way.”

To find out more about Colchester’s rich heritage, visit cimuseums.org.uk.