Camulodunum pavements. It may have reached a population of 30,000 at its height. It was not until the late 18th century that historians realised that Colchester's physical Brythonic (British Celtic) and Roman remains were the city mentioned in ancient literature as "Camulodunum". The earliest Iron Age defensive site at Colchester is the Pitchbury Ramparts earthwork north of the town between West Bergholt and Great Horkesley. The main earthwork defences of the Brythonic Celtic oppidum of "Camulodunon" were built later, beginning in the 1st century BC but most date from the 1st century AD. They are considered the most extensive of their
Old English Latin alphabet "et" ligature) first, then 5 additional English letters, starting with the Tironian note "ond" (⁊), resulting in a list of 29 symbols: Old English was first written in runes ("futhorc") but shifted to a (minuscule) half-uncial script of the Latin alphabet introduced by Irish Christian missionaries from around the 9th century. The Latin spellings include some conventions associated with the Italian alphabet, such as hard vs. soft "c", "g", and "sc". This was replaced by insular script, a cursive and pointed version of the half-uncial script. This was used until the end of the 12th century when continental Carolingian minuscule