the women, and that therefore it was called Kill-Dane; I say of it,
as we generally say of improbable news, it wants confirmation. The
true name of the town is Kelvedon, and has been so for many hundred
years. Neither does Mr. Camden, or any other writer I meet with
worth naming, insist on this piece of empty tradition. The town is
commonly called Keldon.
Colchester is an ancient corporation. The town is large, very
populous, the streets fair and beautiful, and though it may not
said to be finely built, yet there are abundance of very good and
well-built houses in it. It still mourns in the ruins of a civil
war; during which, or rather after the heat of the war was over, it
suffered a severe siege, which, the garrison making a resolute
defence, was turned into a blockade, in which the garrison and
inhabitants also suffered the utmost extremity of hunger, and were
at last obliged to surrender at discretion, when their two chief
officers, Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle, were shot to
death under the castle wall. The inhabitants had a tradition that
no grass would grow upon the spot where the blood of those two
gallant gentlemen was spilt, and they showed the place bare of
grass for many years; but whether for this reason I will not
affirm. The story is now dropped, and the grass, I suppose, grows
there, as in other places.
However, the battered walls, the breaches in the turrets, and the
ruined churches, still remain, except that the church of St. Mary
(where they had the royal fort) is rebuilt; but the steeple, which
was two-thirds battered down, because the besieged had a large
culverin upon it that did much execution, remains still in that
condition.
There is another church which bears the marks of those times,
namely, on the south side of the town, in the way to the Hythe, of
which more hereafter.
The lines of contravallation, with the forts built by the
besiegers, and which surrounded the whole town, remain very visible
in many places; but the chief of them are demolished.
The River Colne, which passes through this town, compasses it on
the north and east sides, and served in those times for a complete
defence on those sides. They have three bridges over it, one
called North Bridge, at the north gate, by which the road leads
into Suffolk; one called East Bridge, at the foot of the High
Street, over which lies the road to Harwich, and one at the Hythe,
as above.
The river is navigable within three miles of the town for ships of
large burthen; a little lower it may receive even a royal navy; and
up to that part called the Hythe, close to the houses, it is
navigable for hoys and small barques. This Hythe is a long street,
passing from west to east, on the south side of the town. At the
west end of it, there is a small intermission of the buildings, but
not much; and towards the river it is very populous (it may be
called the Wapping of Colchester). There is one church in that
part of the town, a large quay by the river, and a good custom-
house.
The town may be said chiefly to subsist by the trade of making
bays, which is known over most of the trading parts of Europe by
the name of Colchester Bays, though indeed all the towns round
carry on the same trade – namely, Kelvedon, Witham, Coggeshall,
Braintree, Bocking, &c., and the whole county, large as it is, may
be said to be employed, and in part maintained, by the spinning of
wool for the bay trade of Colchester and its adjacent towns. The
account of the siege, A.D. 1648, with a diary of the most
remarkable passages, are as follows, which I had from so good a
hand as that I have no reason to question its being a true
relation.
A Diary: Or, An Account Of The Siege And Blockade Of Colchester,
A.D. 1648.
On the 4th of June, we were alarmed in the town of Colchester that
the Lord Goring, the Lord Capel, and a body of two thousand of the