Colchester Castle

 I was heading out to Ipswich to watch the football today; the less said about that, the better. There was nothing to see in Ipswich, so I stopped off in Colchester, which has a castle and remains of the Roman capital.

Built by the Normans soon after the conquest, it survived one siege during the Barons' War. At one and a half times the size of the White Tower's ground plan, Colchester's keep measures 152 by 112 feet (46 m × 34 m) and has the largest area of any medieval tower built in Britain or Europe. It remains an impressive building today, even though people destroyed its upper parts and used them as building material.

Roman Camulodunum was an important castrum and city in Roman Britain and the province's first capital.

The museum inside the castle has a fine collection of Roman artefacts; even if today it was disturbed by a witches' fair, with all sorts of guff on sale. The witches' broom idea as a present was not appreciated by my wife!

The temple model gives a good idea of how impressive it must have looked.

It was later the base of the Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins, who mistreated and killed many innocent women here in the 17th century. The prison cells are still there, and the victims are remembered. Vincent Price played him brilliantly in the 1968 film.

All well worth a look if you are in the area.