Priory Street Bastion 5

Priory Street Bastion 5. Medieval Repairs to the Town Wall. In the centuries following the end of Roman rule the Town Wall was used by the people of Colchester as a convenient source of building stone. As a result, by the time of the Peasants Revolt in 1381 the wall was in a very poor state of repair., Two of the leaders of the Revolt, Wat Tyler and John Ball, had Essex connections and the county was one of the centres of the unrest. In Colchester the rebels attacked St John's Abbey and the violence of the uprising would have frightened the people of the town., In response the king, Richard II, ordered a programme of repairs which included the rebuilding of the wall and the addition of eight bastions, or round towers, to the outside of the wall. The medieval wall, at 1.4m (4ft 6in) thick, is thinner than the Roman Wall which measures 2.4-2.7m (8-9ft) thick. Of the eight bastions only four now survive, three in Priory Street and one in Vineyard Street. The locations of two others in Priory Street are known from archaeological excavations. The upper part of the bastion in front of you, Bastion 5, was rebuilt in the 18th century as a summerhouse with a thatched roof. This was designed in a deliberately old-fashioned style which has a medieval feel.