Museum · Colchester · Essex

Roman Circus Visitor Centre

Roman Circus Visitor Centre is a history museum. Its location is inside Colchester’s built-up area. Management falls to Colchester Archaeological Trust.

Where

In Colchester

inside the built-up area

Run by

Colchester Archaeological Trust

the operator on record

Warmest months

May–Sep

highs of 18–23°C

In brief

Museum in Colchester

Inside Colchester

Roman Circus Visitor Centre is inside Colchester’s built-up area, with 16 more places to visit within 5 km. Towns near it ↓

Written from OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, the ONS built-up areas and Met Office 1991–2020 averages.

When to go

Warm months and wet ones

In Colchester, May to September bring the warmest days: highs of 18–23°C.

Jan8° / 2°51 mm

Feb8° / 2°42 mm

Mar11° / 3°37 mm

Apr14° / 5°37 mm

May18° / 8°47 mm

Jun21° / 11°52 mm

Jul23° / 13°47 mm

Aug23° / 13°55 mm

Sep20° / 10°47 mm

Oct15° / 8°65 mm

Nov11° / 4°61 mm

Dec8° / 2°58 mm

Green months are the warmest. Typical afternoon highs and night lows in Colchester, and rain in a month. Met Office HadUK-Grid 1991–2020 averages for Colchester. Opening times change through the year: check before you go. Colchester’s full climate →

About

Roman Circus Visitor Centre

Nearby, Colchester Castle (800 m) heads a list of 44 within 15 km.

Type: Museum
Run by: Colchester Archaeological Trust
Town: in Colchester
Official site: catuk.org

Facts: Wikidata (CC0) and OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors).

The map

Locating Roman Circus Visitor Centre

Numbered points are the places near Roman Circus Visitor Centre, which is in orange.

Towns near it

Where to base yourself

The 8 towns are led in size by Colchester, with 130,259 people. The towns are in order of distance, its own town first.

1 · It’s in town

Colchester

130,259 people · 22 places to visit

2 · 1.6 km south of it

Berechurch

7,702 people · 18 places to visit

3 · 3.2 km southwest of it

Layer-de-la-Haye

1,338 people · 19 places to visit

4 · 3.7 km northwest of it

West Bergholt

3,175 people · 17 places to visit

Compare the 8 towns

Town	Where Roman Circus Visitor Centre is	People	Places to visit
Colchester	It’s in town	130,259	22
Berechurch	1.6 km south of it	7,702	18
Layer-de-la-Haye	3.2 km southwest of it	1,338	19
West Bergholt	3.7 km northwest of it	3,175	17
Rowhedge	4 km southeast of it	2,492	19
Wivenhoe	4.1 km southeast of it	7,354	20
Great Horkesley	4.3 km north of it	2,232	15
Eight Ash Green	4.9 km west of it	1,769	11

Make a day of it

Nearby, too

Within 15 km you can add 2 abbeys or priories, 2 art galleries and a castle.

CastleColchester Castle800 m away 2

Abbey or priory · English HeritageSt. Botolph's Priory600 m away 3

FortBalkerne Gate600 m away 4

Abbey or priory · English HeritageSt. John's Abbey Gatehouse400 m away 5

ZooColchester Zoo5 km away 6

Art galleryFirstsite800 m away 7

MuseumHollytrees Museum900 m away 8

Art galleryThe Minories900 m away

Within 15 km, close and well known first. Numbers match the map.

Before visiting Roman Circus Visitor Centre

Where is Roman Circus Visitor Centre?

Roman Circus Visitor Centre is in Colchester, Essex, inside the town’s built-up area.

What is Roman Circus Visitor Centre?

Museum: history.

Who runs Roman Circus Visitor Centre?

Colchester Archaeological Trust.

When is the best time to visit Roman Circus Visitor Centre?

May to September are the warmest months in Colchester, with afternoon highs of 18–23°C (Met Office 1991–2020 averages).

What else is there to see near Roman Circus Visitor Centre?

Within 15 km: Colchester Castle (800 m), St. Botolph's Priory (600 m), Balkerne Gate (600 m) and St. John's Abbey Gatehouse (400 m).

Places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database Licence) and Wikidata (CC0), placed in the ONS 2022 built-up area (Open Government Licence v3.0). Visitor counts are the latest Wikidata gives, with their year.

Photos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).

Photo credits (8)

Colchester Castle: George Gastin, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
St. Botolph's Priory: Maria, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Balkerne Gate: Tanya2501, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
St. John's Abbey Gatehouse: Saltmarsh, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Colchester Zoo: Angela Tuff, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Firstsite: Alexis Ip, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Hollytrees Museum: Jarry1250, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
The Minories: David Hawgood, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.