Balkerne Gate is a Roman gateway in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

(the former

Camulodunum Camulodunum ( ; ), the Roman Empire, Ancient Roman name for what is now Colchester in Essex, was an important Castra, castrum and city in Roman Britain, and the first capital of the province. A temporary "wikt:strapline, strapline" in the 1960s ...

). It is the largest surviving gateway in

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of ''Britannia'' after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. Julius Caes ...

and was built where the Roman road from

Londinium Londinium, also known as Roman London, was the capital of Roman Britain during most of the period of Roman rule. Most twenty-first century historians think that it was originally a settlement established shortly after the Roman conquest of Brit ...

intersected the town wall of Camulodunum. It is a scheduled monument and a Grade I listed building.

History

According to Historic England, the gate probably dates to the 2nd century AD. It appears to have incorporated an existing monumental arch from the 1st century. Sir

Mortimer Wheeler Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, CH Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire, CIE Military Cross, MC Territorial Decoration, TD (10 September 1890 – 22 July 1976) was a British archaeolo ...

excavated at the site in 1917. According to a paper he published subsequently:

The gate consisted of two broad carriageways, each wide, flanked by two footways, each about wide. The whole gate projects in front of the town wall, and the total extent of the frontage is .

Although it is the best-preserved Roman gateway in the country, it only survives in part. The remaining gateway is the south-side arched footway; however, the remains of a guard tower are also visible. The rest of the gateway has been overbuilt by the 18th-century Hole in the Wall public house, which is also a listed building.

Structure

Roman town gates sometimes had as many as three entrances but were usually limited to one or two. The Balkerne Gate, however, had four gates, and unusually wide carriageways. There are no other quadruple gates in Britain but there are a few elsewhere in Europe; for example, the Porte d'Auguste at

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...

, the Porte Ste. André and the Porte d'Arroux at

Autun Autun () is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Saône-et-Loire Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region of central-eastern France. It was founded during the Principate era of the e ...

, and the

Palatine Towers The Palatine Gate (; Piedmontese: ''Pòrta Palatin-a'') is a Roman Age city gate located in Turin, Italy. The gate provided access through the city walls of ''Julia Augusta Taurinorum'' (modern Turin) from the North side and, as a result, it con ...

at Turin.

References

{{coord, 51.88966, 0.89371, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title, name=Balkerne Gate Buildings and structures completed in the 1st century Buildings and structures in Colchester (town) Buildings and structures in Roman Britain Gates in England Roman sites in England Arches and vaults in England Town gates in England Grade I listed gates Grade I listed buildings in Essex