So here we are at 1066 – Colchester suddenly became much more important once more when they decided to build a massive castle there. It’s likely that work began in 1075 and very sensibly the Normans decided to use the remains of the Temple of Claudius as their foundation. It’s always good to have building materials at hand! The use of the footprint means that by ground area, the keep at Colchester is the largest Norman keep in Europe. A handy bank and ditch left by the Romans were also incorporated into the build. When it was new it would have looked extremely intimidating. The Saxons knew who was in charge and any passing Scandinavians would have had second thoughts about raiding.

The other thing that the Conqueror gave Colchester was a new tax code. The Domesday book shows that the tax burden rose five fold from the reign of Edward the Confessor to William I. The records of 1086 show that there were 193 households, making in one of the largest towns of the time. Among the principle landowners were the Bishop of London, the Abbey of St Mary in Barking, the Abbey of St Ouen at Rouen, Count Eustace of Bologne who was at Hastings in 1066 (and who had a colourful past), the king who took over the Crown lands that Edward the Confessor held. It also recorded a number of mills on the River Colne. It was also clear that St Peter’s Church was already well established.

The man in charge of building the castle and all that tax gathering was Eudo Dapifer (meaning steward) who I have written about before. https://thehistoryjar.com/2023/06/10/eudo-dapifer-and-his-elder-brother-ralph/. At the time of the Domesday Book, he owned five houses and 40 acres of land which had once belonged to the town burgesses. He also founded St John’s Abbey, where he was later buried, and St Mary Magdalen Hospital (initially for lepers). Dapifer served three Norman kings and was married into the powerful de Clare family. It was Dapifer and Colchester’s strategic importance in the region which turned the town into a prosperous borough with a population reflecting the waves of settlers that had passed through East Anglia by that time.

Philips, Andrew, Colchester a History

Open Domesday Book online