Oldest town in Britain
The three towns that lay claim to be the
oldest town in Britain are
Abingdon, in Oxfordshire;
Colchester, in Essex; and
Marazion, in Cornwall.
Abingdon
Abingdon is a market town in the
Thames Valley in southern
England and is one of several places which claim to be Britain's oldest continuously occupied town.
Colchester
Colchester claims to be Britain's oldest
recorded town, on the basis that it is mentioned in passing by
Pliny the Elder, the
Roman writer, in his
Natural History (
Historia Naturalis) in AD
77. Pliny was describing
Anglesey, and wrote that it was "about 200 miles from Camulodunum, a town in Britain",
Camulodunum being the pre-Roman name for
Colchester. It is claimed that this is the first known reference to any named settlement in Britain.
However, Camulodunum clearly existed for a substantial period before AD 77. From around AD
10,
Cunobelinus (the
Cymbeline of
Shakespeare's play), ruled much of south-east Britain from Camulodunum (the "fortress of the war god, Camulos") until his death in AD
40. Following the invasion by
Claudius in AD
43, Camulodunum became the capital of the new Roman province of
Britannia. In AD
50, Britain's first city, Colonia Claudia Victricensis, was founded there, but the city was razed and its citizens massacred in
Boudica's rebellion in AD
60, and the Roman provincial capital subsequently moved to
London where it remained until the end of Roman colonization and influence.
Marazion
Inscribed stones date from the 4th century, one being in honour of
Constantine the Great. Another has
Cornish lettering, which can no longer be deciphered; and there are British and Roman crosses.
