September 11 to Colchester
We leave Seattle with a bang on September 10th (starter engine dies on 747 causing 30 min delay). Our British Air flight arrives Heathrow at noon on September 11th, 10 minutes late.
Car rented, we drive to see the Cressing Temple medieval barns near Braintree.
Built in the 1100's by the Knights Templar, a Christian military order, active in the Crusades.
One of the two barns is considered the oldest in the world.
Display in one of the barns on construction methods.
Nice walled garden, we gather a few hollyhock seeds.
The new building beyond the apple tree was built using a medieval technique called compass geometry
Explanation of the carpentery technique.
We arrive in Colchester where we stay the night (photo from web)
Railway station guest house, those are our two windows upstairs, had the steepest and smallest treads of all the places we stay.
An actual chef made the excellent breakfast the next morning.
September 12 To Norwich
We visit the village of Kersey on our way to Norwich.
The water on the road is a stream that crosses the only street.
Not a tourist town, but very scenic
We decide to hike up to the church - we never found any village church that was closed, often with no one there.
A surviving medieval part of the church
Thatched B&B in the town
Another view of the street, that's our rental Saab on the right
We head further NE to visit Sutton Hoo, the site of an Anglo-Saxon ship burial with many artifacts.
It's a National Trust site and we purchased a year's membership since we will visit many of their sites. We later also get an English Heritage membership for the same reason.
We visit the museum, and take a walk around the area. A "sand" cast of one of bodies executed in later times, it's basically a stain left by the body of which a cast can be made.
Mound 17 is the large mound in the picture, where the ship burial was found.
Floating in the sky (courtesy of Tom) is the most famous artifact, a ceremonial helmet (reproduction) that was on display at the museum.
We now head farther out to the coast, near Great Yarmouth to see a Roman Fort
A photo from the web of Burg Fort (right foreground), near the village of Burg Castle
The wind is blowing fiercely through the old Roman fort walls at the main entrance.
The Roman name was Gariannonum.
View from the fort across the estuary towards a very large windmill, originally used to pump water out of the marsh land
The wall on the left has collapsed as the tides washed away the bank over the centuries.
Click any photo to see it larger.
Remains of a turret at a corner. There are courses of narrow red brick, then split flint rocks set in mortar.
This church near the fort had some interesting windows
This one notes the death of Herbert Laws, an officer on a ship that was anchored at St. Pierre, Martinique in the West Indies on May 8, 1902. He was there when Mt. Pelee erupted and killed 30,000 people including those on ships in the harbor.
Our Saab 4 door sedan, comfortable to drive and giving us 45 mpg or higher on diesel
We arrive at Norwich and have time to walk downtown to the cathedral.
It's evensong and we can easily hear the chior and organ that are behind the rood screen
Norwich Cathedral
We notice the leaning medieval building across the road - windows included
Tonight and tomorrow we stay at this B & B, the Edmar Lodge in Norwich
Nice room, an upgrade!
