Colchester Castle

November 8

Yesterday, I got small bird feeders and hung them from the little tree in my garden. One contains “fat balls”, what we would call suet balls in the US. Another contains a mix of seeds. A third, which is a mesh bag, contains raw peanuts. Within a half hour, I could see a small sparrow sized bird sampling the fat ball feeder contents. Not sure what kind of bird it was. I will have to get some field glasses to get a better view.

Afterward, I packed a boxed lunch for myself and, after some quick google searching, headed off to Colchester Castle. What fascinating city Colchester is. High Street runs down the side of a rather steep hill and is flanked by hundreds of shops and bistros on each side. There’s parking on the street, but only if you have a disabled badge or are unloading for the shop. So I searched for a car park and found one about 16 blocks from the castle. The walk to the castle was interesting. There are brick and stone walls along the street which look to be very very old. In one, there was a remnant of a public water fountain (see photo) from 1847. That section of the wall had better formed bricks and was probably built around the same time as the fountain.


I found Colchester Castle. I first walked all the way around to see each side. I imagined what purpose each of the narrow slit windows may have served. One could see out of them, and could shoot arrows, but not much could come in the other way.

There were ruins of a Roman fortress excavated beneath the Castle.
Apparently the Romans had built it there not long after 49 AD, when they arrived and colonized Britain. Colchester was the town they created in 49 AD. Later, in about 1100 AD, the Normans built the Castle which sits there now.
(Starlings and sparrows have found the feeders on the tree outside. There are also a few birds tinier than sparrows that I have yet to identify.)
There is a drawing in one photo of how the castle probably looked when the Normans completed it, compared to how it stands now.


Inside the castle, I was able to look at Roman artifacts and learn about the history of Colchester when it was a Roman colony. Inside, one could see the cell where John Parnell was incarcerated for practicing his Quaker faith in the 1600s. A 53 feet deep well was illuminated so you could try to see its depth.
There were exhibits showing what might be in an apothecary shop or kitchen in days of old. There was a lead coffin from Roman days. It was tiny. Hard to imagine what adult would have fit in it. It could not have been more that 5 feet long and very narrow.
There were fragments of pots and urns that were found among the Roman ruins below, giving information about the lives of the Roman community. It was quite humbling to see the Roman artifacts and structural remnants and imagine that people were there, living and working nearly 2000 years ago. I amazes me that the structures survived all these centuries within the Colchester soil.

After visiting the castle, I walked around High Street to see the shops and shoppers.
On my drive back, I meandered here and there with no particular destination. One of the towns I drove through was Maldon. There’s a river or a canal in Maldon with tugboats docked near the bridge. Then, you drive up another very steep hill with shops near the bottom and stucco homes as you ascend. Stucco homes are often painted in pastels. Pink seems to be a favorite. I also saw, peach, yellow, blue, lavender and so on. It makes for a pretty site as one drives along to see these colorfully-hued houses. They are unlike the houses built in the 1950’s which are nearly all brick. I had to chuckle at one street name I saw: Brick House Lane. I thought that about every street in north Chelmsford could carry that name. Masonry must be huge in Essex. I was looking for thatched-roof houses. They are not all that common here that I have found. There’s one right in the town of Chelmsford, and I recall seeing one on the bus ride from Basildon to Chelmsford. So far, that’s it. Perhaps in other parts of England they are more common.

More birding information

For my birdwatching family and friends: there are doves like mourning doves here with the same cooing call as in the states, but they are a lovely pale blue-grey color. Not the same as pigeons either. There are pigeons in the towns, same as home. There are also various seagulls in the fields and crows everywhere. It’s the tinier songbirds I have yet to identify. I did see some sort of crane or heron in flight on one drive, but only saw its silhouette and could not even tell the color of its plumage.

It’s a rainy day today, unlike yesterday’s beautiful sunny autumn day. Temperatures here are still in the 50s in the daytime and no frost at night. I have an oil radiator-type space heater to heat my entire house. I put it on low overnight, but turn it off during the daytime. It effectively heats the whole place. That’s the advantage of a small home. Most of the heat goes up to the bedroom. It’s a bit cooler downstairs when I come down in the morning. There’s a small wall-mounted space heater in the bathroom that heats it up in about 30 seconds. Then I turn it off.

Another discovery! My oven has both radiant heat and convection heat! I cooked some fish fillets in about 12 minutes. They were crispy and wonderful. Wow! I am amazed at the efficiency. One thing does puzzle me, in this energy-conscious country. The hot water tanks heat water to the scalding point. I am curious why they don’t turn them down to a less energy consuming temperature.

I keep hearing the sound of a cow’s moo. Not likely to actually be a cow, since the closest farm must be over 5 miles away. I have wondered if I am hearing someone snore elsewhere in the building, but I doubt it. I don’t hear any sound from anywhere else in the building. The walls separating the different dwellings must be well-insulated. It’s very quiet here.

I can see that I am going to need to get more bird seed very soon. After cleaning up, I will be making my way to my free wifi spot to post this and can pick up more seed nearby. Til later. I would love it if you would leave a comment just so I know who’s reading this, even if it’s just a brief “Hi Sonja!”. Thanks for joining me!