In Boudica's footsteps
Colchester to London
Londinium
had been founded by the Romans in about AD 50, only 10 years before the
rebellion. In that short time, it had attracted approximately 10,000 residents.
It was about the same size as the present City of London, but its streets
were 4.9 metres (16 feet) lower.
When news reached Londinium that Camulodunum (Colchester) had been destroyed by rebels who were at that moment heading for the Roman capital, Procurator Decianus immediately fled to Gaul. When the governor Suetonius Paulinus reached the city, he soon realised that the number of troops available to him were insufficient. Rather than suffer the same fate as the 9th Legion Hispana, he withdrew, intending to regroup.
He [Paulinus] decided to sacrifice the one town to save the general situation. Undeflected by the prayers and tears of those who begged for help, he gave the signal to move, and took into his column any who could join it. Those who were unfit for war because of their sex, or too aged to go, or too fond of the place to abandon it, were butchered by the enemy.
Tacitus
After plundering their way through modern-day Essex, the rebels arrived in Londinium. Their fury was awesome. According to the Roman historian Cassius Dio:
Those who were taken captive by the Britons were subjected to every known outrage. The worst, most bestial atrocity committed by their captors was the following. They hung up naked the noblest and most distinguished women and then cut off their breasts and sewed them to their mouths, in order to make the victims appear to be eating them. Afterwards they impaled the women on sharp skewers run lengthwise through their entire body.
Tacitus said that 'it was if they feared that retribution might catch up with them while their vengeance was only half-complete.'
Londinium itself was burned by a fire so hot that it melted the remains into a layer of red clay 25 centimetres (10 inches) thick in places. This is the same 'Boudican destruction layer' that has been found at Camulodunum (Colchester). Even more has been discovered below London's surface: during excavations on Walbrook – a street that runs between Bank and Cannon Street stations, which follows the line of the now-piped-up Walbrook stream – a cache of decapitated skulls dating from that time were unearthed.
The destruction at Londinium was so great that the Romans would have
to build it anew. The rebels moved on. As her next target, Boudica chose
the town of Verulamium (St Albans), some
30 miles to the north-east.
What you can see
British Museum: Compass collections online
www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/
compass/index.html
If you type 'Boudica' into the search box and click on 'Find', you will find a range of relevant artefacts to investigate, including the bronze head of Claudius thrown into a river by the Britons (see Thetford
to Colchester), a statue of Nero, the tombstone of Julius Classicianus (the procurator who replaced Decianus), Iron Age weapons, coins depicting Roman emperors and Iceni chariots, and a superb collection of torcs – the jewellery worn by the Iceni. And, of course, all these are available to be viewed at the British Museum itself.
Great Russell Street, London WC1, a 10-minute walk from Tottenham Court
Road tube station.
Museum of London
www.museumoflondon.org.uk
The 'Roman London' gallery traces the history of Londinium from its
founding to the withdrawal of Roman authority in AD 410. In the 'Macabre
London' gallery, you can see some of the skulls of massacred Londoners
discovered in Walbrook stream.
London Wall, London EC2. The main entrance is located on a pedestrian
highwalk accessed from Aldersgate Street, London Wall or St Martins-Le-Grand.
Nearest tube stations: Barbican, St Paul's, Moorgate, Bank.
Statue of Boudica
The large statue of Boudica – mistakenly labelled 'Boadicea'
and with very non-historical knives extending from the hubs of her chariot's
wheels – was sculpted by Thomas Thornycroft and erected in 1902.
North end of Westminster Bridge, London SW1, next to Westminster tube
station.
