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 the few Roman settlements in Britain designated as a "Colonia" rather than a "Municipia", meaning that in legal terms it was an extension of the city of Rome, not a provincial town. Its inhabitants therefore had Roman citizenship. Of the two provincial administrators the senatorial military governor was always located in areas of conflict, whilst the civilian Procurator’s office had moved from Camulodunum to the new port of Londinium sometime around the Boudican Revolt. However the Colonia did retain the Imperial cult centre and priesthood at the Temple of Claudius. The colonia was at the centre of a large territorium