Oldest town in Britain

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The town that laies claim to be the oldest town in Britain is Colchester, in Essex.

[edit] Basis of the claim

[edit] 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.