This silk brocade dress from around 1760 is more than fashion, it’s engineering.
The floral patterns are woven directly into the silk using coloured threads and metal thread that catches the light.
Clothes like this connected Colchester to global trade, craft skill, and social life. They were worn, adapted, repaired, and worn again.
Visit our museums to discover more hidden stories in historic objects: colchester.cimuseums.org.uk/visit-us
Brocade like this would have been made on a drawloom, where a weaver and assistant worked together to control the pattern. Every flower placed by hand.
And this fabric may be older than the dress itself. High-quality textiles were reused, altered, and refashioned as styles changed. You can still see those changes in the seams and construction.
Of course you’ll have a look. Gift shop open daily at Colchester Castle. No judgement. 🏰
This is a robe à l’anglaise, with a fitted back rather than the flowing earlier styles. A shift in fashion, but still using the same precious materials.
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Colchester Museums
Colchester Museums
Colchester Museums
Colchester Museums
Colchester Museums
Colchester Museums
The school's roots in the area go back much further than the building. A Church of England day school for infants was opened around 1836 in East Street, and a Sunday school followed in 1859 in what later became Guildford Road. The current building opened in 1961.
Do you have memories of the school?
Colchester Museums
The disembodied head is actually a remnant of an earlier Iron Age tradition, making this sculpture even more interesting. It shows a blend of the old ways and the new, after the Roman takeover of Britain in 43 CE. Was the person buried beneath a native to Britain who had adopted Roman customs?
The ‘Colchester Sphinx’ which was found in the garden of the General Hospital at Colchester in 1821. Dating to the 1st century AD, the sculpture was probably part of a tomb. Now part of the collections at Colchester Castle. 📸 My own. #FindsFriday #Colchester #RomanBritain
Kevin Wilbraham
Ever wondered what inspired the legend of the Loch Ness Monster? Watch our latest video with our curator Chris for clues about a real-life creature on display in Discover: Museum Wonders with four powerful flippers and a neck that could stretch for days.
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Our #ThrowbackThursday location this morning was St James C of E School on Guildford Road, here in 1973 and as it looks now.
The school is now known as St James the Great C of E Primary School and Nursery. The blue railings are new. The chimney, reassuringly, is not.
