*COLCHESTER, (Essex) 43 cm, 58 mm. from London, is a large populous T. thro' which runs the r. Coln, that also encompasses
it on the N. and E. sides, has 3 bridges over it, and is navigable, by small craft, up to the Hithe, where is a kay, and
for ships of large burden to a place within 3 m. of it, where is a custom-house, and a little lower it may receive a royal
navy. 'Tis principally noted for the mf. of bays and says; for the support of which, there is a corp. called the governors
of Dutch-bay-hall, and officers to examine it; and 'tis said to have returned 30,000 l. a week, ready money, formerly, for
those stuffs. Here is a Guild, or, as they call it, a Moot-hall, to which joins the T. gaol. The place is about 3 m. in
com. had anciently 15 and now 10 p. Chs. 5 meeting-houses, of which 2 are for Quakers, besides a Dutch and a French Ch.
'Tis governed by a mayor, high-steward, recorder, or his deputy, 11 ald. a chamberlain, T. clerk, 18 assistants, and 18 C.
C. It is a liberty of itself, which has 4 wards, 8 ps. within the walls, and 8 without, and extends along the r. as far as
Mersey-Island, and certain marks in the sea. It had anciently a castle, built by Edward the son of K. Alfred, and walls
all round, of which there are few marks left. It had once many religious houses, which had Chs. and chapels, bel. to them;
particularly an abbey, (whereof only part of the gate-house remains) whose abbots sat in Pt. and about 150 years ago, it
was the See of a Bp. It sustained a long siege by the Pt. army, in the civil wars, till it was reduced by famine: the
battered walls, breaches in the turrets, and the ruin'd Chs. still shew the marks of the siege. In the R. of K. Cha. I. it
gave title of Visc. to the Earl of Rivers. From the abundance of coins found here, 'tis supposed to have been anciently a
Roman colony; and there was a military way that led from hence by Braintres, Dunmow, &c. There is a particular corp. here
for maintaining the poor, consisting of the mayor and ald. and 48 guardians. Here are 2 grammar scs. and 2 ch. scs.
besides a workhouse for the poor. Such a vast quantity of sprats are caught, and consumed by the woollen manufacturers in
those parts, that they are called the weavers beef of Colchester. In the T. and its liberty are reckon' d 40,000 people.
The Mts. here are on W. F. and S. and the Fairs June 24, July 22, Oct. 9 or 13, This place is said to have given birth to
Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, and Lucius the first Christian K. and, in memory of the cross she found here,
the arms of the T. is a cross enragled bet. 4 crowns. The founder of the abbey here built St. Mary Magdalen's hos. on the
S. E. side of the T. within its walls, for lepers. It must not be omitted, that this place is of special note for candying
eringo roots; but much more for its oysters, which being taken at the mouth of the Colchester water, and about the sand
which they call the Spits, are carried up to Wyvenhoe, where they are laid in beds, or pits, on the shore, to feed, as
they call it, and then, being barrelled up, are brought to Colchester, from whence they are sent in great quantities to
London, &c.