Many of us remember the excitement generated by the spectacle of the Roman chariot race depicted in the film Ben Hur. Some of us have actually walked the floor of the Circus Maximus in Rome where the original chariot races took place, and imagined what it must have been like when it was in use two millennia ago. (Yes, you can do that if you want to, even today). However, it never crossed my mind that such a dominant feature of our image of Rome at the height of its empire was apparently replicated in many other parts of the Roman world. I just read an article about the discovery of a similar Roman Circus in Colchester, England, in 2004. It is Britain’s only known Roman Circus.
The Roman Circus in Colchester was first discovered in 2000, and formally identified during excavations at the former Colchester Garrison in 2004 – the site was previously used by the British Army. It was probably in full use between the 2nd and 3rd centuries, according to the Colchester Archaeological Trust. The Trust said the track was 450 metres (1,476ft) long and about 74 metres (243ft) wide and would have had six tiers of seating for more than 8,000 spectators. It was probably constructed on the orders of Emperor Hadrian, who visited Britain in the year 122 CE.
A short time ago a coalition of local politicians and business leaders in Colchester signed a letter addressed to the planning inspector ahead of a planning inquiry for possible housing construction. The Labour MP for Colchester, Pam Cox, said: “We can’t rebuild the circus, obviously, but you can rebuild a sense of the scale of it.” (I have to ask here, why it can’t be rebuilt, at least in some form? It would certainly put Colchester on the map! All it would take is a city government with a little bit of imagination, if that’s not an oxymoron!)
Plans to build more than 200 homes on the site of the former Army Base Repair Organisation land were refused last November over concerns over the impact they would have on the appearance and character of the underground site.
Current development plans include building housing around the site and recreating the old gates to the Circus. In an update this past week, Colchester City Council said “enhancements” had since been made to the scheme’s design. Martyn Warnes, chair of the planning committee, said: “The revised scheme offers improved architectural quality and a more respectful approach to the site’s historic context.”
Colchester MP, Pam Cox, coordinated the coalition. Ms. Cox said the plans needed “a sense of the scale of it”, with, for example, “tall, terraced housing that give you a sense of what it would be like to sit in those stands with the track in front of you. That would help to make the site a bit more visible and legible to people,” she said. She added: “There’s a visitor centre, there’s a garden showing where the starting gates were, where the horses and chariots would have hurtled out of their starting areas. We’ve got raised paving and raised mounds to show some of the lines of the track, but now, we’ve got a chance to make even more of it, and the plans that the developer who bought the land adjacent to the circus recently originally submitted were rejected by the city council because we wanted something more ambitious there. She described the previous designs as “a mishmash and a hodge-podge of housing styles”, but said the amended proposal looked “much better”. “What I’m hoping today, and this week, is that those new plans can be formally considered by the planning inspector, and they can be added as a condition to the application,” she said. “If you imagine a stadium like Wembley Stadium but long and thin, like Circus Maximus in Rome.
Excuse me, Ms. Cox, I applaud your concern and your efforts to preserve this monumental discovery but, if you will excuse me, the project needs a great deal more imagination. You apparently, and luckily, don’t have to tear down half the city, which happens quite often when archaeological digs are undertaken. It sounds like mostly empty space at present. Why not recruit every historical society and organization in Britain and elsewhere and recreate the Colchester Roman Circus. It would be unique in the world. And I mean recreate, not as a Disney world attraction, but a true archaeological representation. You could even recreate chariot racing, although I’m sure “Health and Safety” regulations would have a field day with that.
You have a unique opportunity here. Please let you imagination run wild.
