Return to Roman Ruins in Britain
In AD 54, a magnificant temple was begun at Colchester (Camulodunum) in honor of the deified Claudius and his invasion of Britain a decade before. Hated as a stronghold of eternal domination, the temple had not yet been dedicated when it was razed to the ground and the town destroyed in the Boudican revolt of AD 60. The museum is built on the high temple podium and displays tombstones that had been overturned and smashed during the rebellion. A portion of the town wall survives, as does the Balkerne Gate, where an arch had been built to commemorate the surrender of Camulodunum to Claudius in AD 43.