The use of the civil wars in Colchester's tourist image

• Published in: Annals of tourism research empirical insights Vol. 5; no. 1; p. 100120
• Main Author: Sewell, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2024; Elsevier
• Subjects: British civil war; Commercialisation; Marketing; Tourism; Useable past; Tourism; Commercialisation; Useable past; British civil war; Marketing
• ISSN: 2666-9579; 2666-9579
• DOI: 10.1016/j.annale.2024.100120

This article explores the relationship between useable pasts and tourism to show how towns reinvented themselves using their local and unique histories throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. To achieve this, the article focuses its attention on the growing influence and importance that tourism had on Colchester's development. It shows how important visible landmarks and mythical stories are in ensuring a past's usability. Alongside this it highlights the importance of local stakeholders and businesses in owning the past and marketing the town as a historic location. In doing so it demonstrates the ways in which Colchester reinvented itself from an old Market town to become an Historic town. Focusing on the controversial history of the Siege of 1648, it will show how towns dealt with tragic narratives as they began using the past to sell themselves to the nation. •The British Civil Wars were used to rebrand places as historic.•The Civil Wars have an important cultural legacy in tourism.•Shared visions and collaborations are crucial.•Historic meanings shape and change according to time and place.•Useable pasts are important for contemporary tourist branding.