Colchester Queen Street excavation reveals medieval bastion

The ancient feature had been blocked to public view but can now be seen after the city’s former bus depot in Queen Street was demolished last month.

Excavation works are being undertaken at the city centre site which is set to become a multi-million pound digital creative hub.

The bastion itself faces Priory Street and is estimated to have been built following the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381.

Demolished - the former bus station in Queen Street was reduced to rubble last month (Image: Stuart Johnson)

At the time the Roman wall, which was 1,300 years old, was being strengthened across its southern frontage where Priory Street and Vineyard Street now lie.

Four of the bastions survive, with three in Priory Street and fragments of one behind Roberts Club in Vineyard Street.

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Four others have been demolished over the centuries.

Colchester High Steward Sir Bob Russell has now called for the bastion to be made available for residents to see.

Ancient - the bastion is believed to have been built following the Peasants' Revolt in 1381 (Image: Sir Bob Russell)

He said: “It is my hope that, whatever plan eventually emerges for this area, it will feature the bastion as something for the public to visit.

“The window is obviously not part of the original bastion and was presumably created when this area was the garden to a mansion which existed on the site before the theatre was built early in the 19th century.”

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The site is being excavated by Colchester Archaeological Trust which is going down to the level of Roman occupation dating from AD 43.

Appeal - Sir Bob Russell wants the bastion to be made available for residents to see (Image: Newsquest)

Experts said they have found the remains of a Roman street which ran alongside the inside of the wall during their dig, as well as a Roman coin and pottery.

Remains of the Theatre Royal, which occupied the site until it was destroyed by fire in 1918, have been uncovered, including music sheets and a burnt violin.

The land is now going to become an immersive technology centre as part of a £4.7 million partnership aiming to rejuvenate Queen Street and St Botolph’s Street.

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