Colchester Castle, Essex Platform Poster

Original illustration of Colchester Castle in Essex. Colchester Castle was designed by Gundulf of Rochester, who was William the Conqueror's chief architect; Gundulf used the foundations of the Roman-era Temple of Claudius as the base of the castle. As a result, Colchester Castle is the largest Norman keep in Europe.

Colchester Castle was besieged during the First Barons' War in 1216; was headquarters to the Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins in 1645; and hosted the execution of Royalist leaders in the aftermath of the Siege of Colchester in 1648. The castle was partially demolished in 1683 - to this day, historians are unsure as to the castle's original height.

A park was established on the castle's grounds in the 1740s by local MP Charles Gray; this would later become Castle Park. In 1815 a tree was planted atop the castle by the castle's librarian, Mary Ann Smith, to celebrate the Duke of Wellington's victory at Waterloo that year.

In the 1920s, the Borough of Colchester bought Colchester Castle and the surrounding parkland, using a donation from the Viscount Cowdray. The castle is now a popular museum, and the surroundings are now Castle Park.

This Essex illustration by artist Rob Wisdom is a weatherproof PVC scuff-proof posters as currently featured in stations throughout Essex and South Suffolk.