Archaeology and campanology

We had our first frost of the season on Thursday and we had been as warm as toast thanks to our tubular heater.

It was a beautiful morning bright sunshine and blue skies but very cold. I had read about some old Thames barges which sounded interesting. They have an array of sails on two masts and look quite distinguished when sailing in open water.

We started our day at Heybridge Quay on the River Blackwater. As it was so sunny and windy we took the kites. The majority of the boats moored were modern fibreglass but further along the flood bank we found some rotting hulls sitting sadly in the mud. The tide was out and we looked upon archaeology in the making. When you see a rotted hulk half buried in the mud, the programs you see with little flags stuck all over the dig area suddenly make some sort of sense but I still find it difficult to imagine that in a thousand or so years the piece of ground I’m standing on could be 20 or 30 ft below the ground surface or 200 ft below the water.

The area around here was all mud but we did have a dragon moment, well over 1000 Brent Geese flew overhead in typical V formation all chatting to each other with their garrulous calls.

We stirred up some interest with the kite and camera and met Bob. Bob worked for the Local Authority and had taken a few hours off work because his dog was poorly. The dog was enjoying the walk and looked much better (according to Bob). Bob turned out to be a very knowledgeable chap on a lot of different subjects. He was a keen photographer and historian. We were both out of our depth but managed to keep the conversation flowing especially when it turned to Leonardo daVinci, apparently his ideas on flight and canal locks were originally written down by a Roman years earlier but unfortunately I’ve already forgotten his name! (We still prefer to believe Leonardo was the smart one) I now have a note of a title and the author of a book that should help me with my understanding of The Dark Ages.

We moved on to Maldon and found what we were looking for, the Thames Barges. They were magnificent creatures and a lot bigger than I thought. Unfortunately they were moored top to tail 3 deep and un-photographable because the scene was too busy and complicated. One of the barges had been renovated to hold functions and from the photo it looked like there was a ballroom inside.

It was still a beautiful day and I had found out about a Chapel built in AD654 that had re-used some Roman bricks and stone in it’s construction. So off we went to Bradwell by the Sea. The chapel was dedicated to St Peter and had been built at the site of a Roman Fortress called ‘Othona’. The fortress was abandoned about AD410 when the Romans left Britain.
The building is now just a single rectangular room with a concrete outline showing where the Curved Apse at the East End of the Chapel once stood. Inside it is bare except for an altar on which visitors have left gifts of sea shells collected from the nearby shore.

There are 3 stones embedded in the altar all gifts from other well known sites. The left stone from Iona, where the Celtic mission arrived from Ireland, the middle from Lindisfarne where St Cedd trained and the last from Lastingham where St Cedd built his Northern monastery.
St Cedd who built the Chapel came from Northumbria as a missionary to the East Anglians and the chapel is one of the oldest places of worship in the country.

The sun was now very low in the sky making for a difficult drive back to the campsite. It was a beautiful evening clear and crisp with a promise of more frost. The moon lit up the whole field, it’s just a shame that we were parked under the site’s only amber streetlight!

The next morning it was cold and white over but the sun shone out of a cloudless blue sky, we have been extremely lucky with the weather over the last 8 weeks. As we travelled northwards we passed through East Bergholt, a small Suffolk village. The church caught our eye and we stopped to have a wander around. As I went on my obligatory walk around the outside of the Church I noticed that the tower was missing which I found out later had never been built, started yes finished no. It was started in 1525 and work stopped on it in 1530 due to lack of funds.

In the churchyard was a small building with slatted walls, it turned out to be a Bell Cage built in 1531 as a temporary measure how long is temporary?

Neither Pat nor I had ever heard about one never mind seen one. We stuck our noses in between the wooden slats and found 5 huge church bells all upside down within a framework of wood.

On further investigation we noticed that the framework was set with a gap below the bells big enough to enable them to be swung around their axis. We knew that bells in a tower were attached to a large wheel that took up slack rope when being rung but we couldn’t work out how these bells worked. They were still rung every Sunday for 30 minutes during the summer months.

We eventually found out on the web. They are hand rung by pushing the wooden stay attached to the bell, the bell swings down and up and the bell ringer then pushes on the stay returning the bell to it’s original position. As each bell weighs about the same as a small motorcar the force used must be enough to make sure the bell swings back into the upright position but not too much or it could bounce off it’s stay and end up hanging down. We would have loved to have seen the bells being rung but sadly they had stopped for the winter.

At Woodbridge our river walk was downstream this time and we found some more homes on the water. One of them was a converted Thames Barge, larger than the canal narrow boat and I would have loved a conducted tour but there was no one about to chat up!

One obviously occupied house boat had a massive tarpaulin strung over the living quarters, presumably the roof leaked and either he was waiting for spare parts or he couldn’t afford to fix it. We hoped he’d get some sort of repair before winter sets in.

We took a nice leisurely drive down the country lanes to Bawdsey Quay for the night. It was the 3rd of November and we were treated to several firework displays from across the river. Why oh why can’t bonfire night be on November 5th like it was when I was young?

Before darkness fell we walked along the shingle bank towards the sea and stopped for a chat with a fisherman. I had a close up view of the rod and rod tripod. Now we can understand why the fish don’t run off with the rod, there is a tube into which the end of the rod fits stopping it from being snatched off the tripod and down the beach. He was hoping to catch Whiting here but had a feeling that he would be eating his chips on their own tomorrow night. He told us about a fisherman who was swept away during the weekend storms. There were two fishing side by side and a rogue wave got one of them, a local and member of the life boat crew.

Next day was bright, clear and beautiful but it’s getting colder and I couldn't resist taking this photo. The one and only cloud in the sky had a message for the weathermen!

We visited Framlingham Castle but were unable to fly the kite because of the Caravan Club Rally in the Castle field. We drove onto the field and met the Rally Manager. He didn’t seem to want us to stay and looked mightily relieved when we went to park over the road.

Framlingham Castle dates from 12 century and was designed as a symbol of power. Over the years it has been used by Mary Tudor who mustered her supporters here in 1553 before being crowned Queen, a prison at the end of the 16th century and later on a poorhouse and school were built in the grounds.

From Framlingham we went to Aldburgh and parked on the sea wall just generally taking in the view and atmosphere. We took a walk along the shingle and we managed to find 12 more hag stones, I’ll have every one off that beach yet!

Back at the van we sat and watched a Whale basking in the sun on the horizon and after 10 minutes we got the binoculars out whereupon it miraculously took on the shape of an old oil drum. We thought it was kind of slow and spending a long time on the surface.

Suddenly there was knock on the door and Maurice introduced himself. He fetched his wife Sheila from the shore and we spent the afternoon discussing Romahomes. They have a C15 and love it but haven’t yet spent a night away. They hope to have a night or two at Aldburgh soon. They love this coast and admitted that at one time they always went to Clacton but now they spend some of their days here on the sea wall.

As dusk fell more and more fishermen arrived with their storm lanterns and spread themselves out all along the beach. After dark we looked out and it was like party lanterns strung out in a long line as far as we could see in both directions. The moon was close to full and shining out from the East straight onto the sea lighting the whole scene.


We left Aldburgh in full sunshine and took a roundabout route to Thetford Forest. The countryside was gentle and as we travelled further North we noticed a subtle change in the Autumn colours. Mostly it was the Beech trees that gave the beautiful copper and yellow but occasionally there was a member of the Acer family with bright yellow leaves.

We had a lazy day and eventually found somewhere to camp in the forest. It was a small clearing and early the next morning I walked straight into a Muntjac Deer. They are small for deer and you could mistake them for dogs but they are very quick and this one shot off into the woodland. I walked slowly for a few yards and found it had stopped about 50 ft away and was studying me. I gave him a friendly smile but it didn’t do any good it still ran off in the opposite direction.

We sat and watched 4 squirrels feeding in the fallen beech leaves perhaps they were eating beech mast and we had a flock of Chaffinches drinking in a puddle 10 ft away from the van.

On the way home we stopped at Weeting Castle, it’s just a shell now but has a dry moat that surrounds it and an Ice house. The ice hole is brick built and a has a domed floor as well as a domed roof. Part of it is below ground and the whole structure is then covered with earth leaving just the entrance open. Ice could be kept here all through the summer and they were always built at a slight distance from the main habitation.

We’re home again now and have a few very busy days. I have to sort out some handbags for a friend and get some spinning done in order to weave some new bags and scarves. Pat has a list of additions and modifications for the van. I wonder where we can go tomorrow if the sun shines.