Lexden Earthworks and Bluebottle Grove

The Colchester earthworks at Lexden and Bluebottle Grove are among the few surviving late Iron Age defences in Britain.

They defended the west side of pre-Roman Colchester, Camulodunum, which was occupied by the Iron Age Catuvellauni and their leader Cunobelin from about AD 10, and before that by the Trinovantes.

The banks and ditches you see are of a series of late Iron Age defences protecting the western side of Camulodunum – pre-Roman Colchester. There are also many pre-Roman graves hereabouts, including Lexden Tumulus, allegedly the burial place of the British chieftain Cunobelinus.