AudaTours Colchester Audio Tour: Unsung Hands
Balkerne Gate, Colchester, UK, Colchester, Essex, CO1 1PQ
Follow this self-guided audio walk at your own pace, with headphones, as you move through 11 stops across Colchester.
The route begins at Balkerne Gate and finishes near the High Street, taking in Jumbo Water Tower, St John’s Abbey Gate, St Botolph’s Priory, the Roman Wall, St Helen’s Lane, Hollytrees Museum, Colchester Castle, Maidenburgh Street and the Dutch Quarter along the way. Expect about 1 hour of audio and around 2 hours in total including walking.
This version of the tour focuses on the people usually left out of the grand story: the legionary wall-builders and the stone-workers who reused Norman masonry; Flemish refugee weavers who helped rebuild cloth-making in Maidenburgh Street; the Tudor monk who stood up to Henry VIII; townspeople surviving the eleven-week Civil War siege; Victorian servants and sedan-chair carriers; and the engineers and labourers who brought clean water to the town, including the men behind Jumbo Water Tower. Listening as you walk, the town’s walls, gates, priory ruins, street patterns and monuments become clues to everyday work, skill, hardship and survival in Britain’s oldest recorded town.
Timings
Available anytime
Location & directions
Balkerne Gate, Colchester, UK, Colchester, Essex, CO1 1PQ
- Directions:
- Starts at Balkerne Gate, Colchester, visits 11 stops, and finishes at Colchester High Street, near Sir Isaac Walk.
Booking information
- Pre-booking requirement:
- Book on day
- Booking conditions:
- Visit the booking link and click the "Get Tour" button to receive a redemption code. Follow the link to download the AudaTours app, enter your redemption code, and you're ready to go.
- Booking email:
- [email protected]
- Booking website:
- https://audatours.com/tour/united-kingdom/colchester/p-4139-unsung-hands
Accessibility details
This is an outdoor, self-guided audio walking tour. The route follows public streets and pavements and does not include access to the interior of any of the sites — they are to be admired from the outside. Please wear comfortable shoes and dress for the weather.
Additional information
You can start the tour whenever suits you during the festival and pause, resume or revisit it at any point — the route plays at your own pace from your phone. Once redeemed, the tour stays in your AudaTours library so you can come back to it any time. Headphones (or one earbud if walking with a companion) are recommended, and the tour works best in daylight hours.
- Estimated duration:
- 2 hour(s)
