If young lads on their first trip to France stop in one of the Channel ports, the thing that often surprises them the most is the number of bullet holes in the buildings. There are almost none in England. There are ruins caused by cannons and bombs, but not bullet scarred buildings. This half timbered house in Colchester is the only one Bradwan knows of. The holes have been there since 1648 and the English Civil War.
Castle Museum
This was the biggest castle keep in europe, and is still impressive, despite having the top two floors knocked off in 1680. The museum has a very strong history collection, as befits a major port and regional capital for the Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, and English.
Tymperleys Clock Museum
Another half timbered house with an unusual collection, the British Horological Institute in Nottingham is the only other clock museum we know of. Even more unusual is the fact all the clocks were made in Colchester between 1640 and 1840. Before factory made clocks became the norm most large towns would have had clock makers but Colchester must have had a lot of them for a whole collection to be formed from their work; or else the bloke who did the collecting, Bernard Mason, was an uber obsessive collector.
The centre of Colchester also has a Natural History Museum and the ‘award winning' Hollytree Museum: a Georgian town house with the kind of ‘hands on’ stuff that gets awards. It may be really good, but its website, like too many others, only tells you what you will experience, not what you can actually see, so it is impossible to make a balanced judgement. However the Colchester Museum’s website is easy to use, looks well, and is well recommended. Colhester Museums.
Report on Colchester
I had a really good trip to Colchester, even if the best part was selling both my books to Brenda on the train there. It is an odd town. The centre feels very well off, and I didn't see any boarded up shops, but there were more kebab shops than anywhere I have been, and most of the barracks I passed were ababdoned. The Castle Museum is a Fiver in. I tried to get my hand down, after all I am asking people to buy my contribution to culture, but the inside of the Castle is a shell of little interst in itself, and there seemed no effort to inform me of what they have stuck in it for me to see, on the way to the cash desk. I had a really good Two Pounds of mixed seafood from a market stall and a wonderful cornish pastie.
The game was frustrating, just like so much of this season.
REPORT The museum is one of the best of it's kind I have seen. It is small, but they do not try and over reach themselves. The Market and the Rutland are both cracking boozers. On the down side City only managed a 0-0 draw, and I was 'offered out' by a drunken inbred in the Weatherspoons. He did everything he could to start a fight apart from get off his chair and come at me, although he was so drunk I not sure he could have managed that.
