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
Camulodunum rebuilt on a larger scale and flourished, growing larger in size than its pre-Boudican levels (to 108 acres/45 ha) despite its loss of status to Londinium, reaching its peak in the Second and 3rd centuries. The town's official name was "Colonia Claudia Victricensis" (City of Claudius’ Victory), but it was known colloquially by contemporaries (such as on the monument of Gnaeus Munatius Aurelius Bassus in Rome - "see below") as "Camulodunum" or simply "Colonia". The colonia became a large industrial centre, and was the largest, and for a short time the only, place in the province of Britannia where samian