Colchester.uk.comThe History of Colchester 1651-1700 
Year Events
1651 East Gate fell down
1652  
1653 300 prisoners held at the castle after the Commonwealth victory against the Dutch
1654  
1655 July: James Parnell, a 19 year old follower of the quaker George Fox, arrives in Colchester and holds prayer meetings
1656 April 10: James Parnell dies in gaol after having been arrested for brawling in Coggeshall church
John Evelyn describes Colchester as "a fair town, but now wretchedly demolished by the late siege, especially the suburbs, which were all burnt"
1657  
1658  
1659 Rye Gate demolished
1660 Colchester's MP, Sir Harbottle Grimston, becomes Speaker of the House of Commons and Master of the Rolls
1661 Funeral service for Lucas and Lisle, the Royalist commanders executed in 1648
1662  
1663 William More, mayor of Colchester, violently attacks the quaker meeting doing "much mischief to the forms, seats, and windows"
1664  
1665 June: 2,063 Dutch sailors and 13 officers brought to Colchester following a sea battle off Lowestoft
August: plague arrives in Colchester
September: death rate reaches 25 per day
December: death rate drops to 6 per day
1666 May: plague death rates rise again to 25 per day
June: death rates begin to drop steadily
November: plague outbreak ends having claimed 4,731 lives
1667  
1668  
1669 Duke Cosmo of Florence is shown sites relating to the siege
1670  
1671  
1672  
1673  
1674  
1675 Remains of East Gate made safe
1676  
1677  
1678 Winnock's almshouses founded in Military Road (1679)
1679
1680
1681  
1682  
1683 Castle keep sold to John Wheeley for demolition
1684  
1685  
1686  
1687  
1688 New charter granted by James II
1689
1690 (circa) Isaac Rebow lays out his "walk"
1691 Newly built independent Meeting House in Moor Elmes Lane, (now Priory Street)
1692 September 8th, earthquake causes crack to open and close in St. Peter's church steeple and a chimney to collapse on North Hill
Isaac Rebow elected MP for Colchester
1693 John Wheeley begins demolition of the castle
William III stays at Headgate with Isaac Rebow and knights him
1694  
1695  
1696  
1697  
1698 Foundation of Colchester, Connecticut on land bought from the Sachem of the Mohegan Indians by Nathaniel Foote, the grandson of an emigrant from Essex
1699  
1700  
The History of Colchester : 1551-1600 : 1601-1650 :: 1701-1750 : 1751-1800