This morning we asked the girls what they'd like to do with their last free day in England. They couldn't make up their minds between going to see the inside of a real English castle, or going crabbing at the seaside. It seemed to me that we could easily combine the two by going to Orford Castle, then on to Orford Quay. Orford Castle is a little gem of a castle, built around the year 1170, during the reign of Henry II, it withstood a short seige in the reign of Edward I in around 1280, then spent the next seven centuries or so in quiet retirement.
This means that the keep, and all its domestic arrangements have survived remarkably complete. This includes the :- Sorry seem to have lost a picture here. Bear with me. Going to have to rejig this.
Above is the Chapel, beautifully finished chamber inside the first floor of the keep. Will come back to the castle, possibly in tomorrow's blog entry.
We then went down to Orwell Quay and fished for crabs. Ann above.
Ruth and Tuva crabbing.
Freja and Tuva starting the crab race down slipway beside the Quay. We always let the crabs back in the water by letting them race a few yards down the slipway. Of the hundred or so crabs we caught today none were of edible size.
Sorry about today's messy blog. Will try and do better tomorrow.
6 comments:
Crabbing and castles - lasting souvenirs! Looking forward to reading more about Orford Castle (never heard of it before) and maybe your expert analysis of the military architecture shown in it (Right-angled v. circular or curved masonry, siege engine v. artillery) which seems to be very mixed.
That piscina in the chapel appears to have been of trefoil design originally - and what an ergonomic arrangement it is. Walk up to the piscina, place mitre, crown or helm in the niche above, duck into the washing area, no sharp corner to crack your forehead, plenty of elbow room with the side cutaways, quick scrub-up, back out, replace mitre - purification complete... or has my imagination run away with me again?
Wonderful days Mike, I wish you many more as golden.
Hello Christopher. Please bear with me. I will write a complete account of our visit to the castle a little later in the week. In the meantime (just to whet your appetite) may I suggest that you look up the harrowing account of the Orford merman, his capture and eventual escape (I should think Google may contain an account of this exciting episode of Suffolk history).
Regards, Mike.
Hello Crowbard. Yes, I think you are right about the piscina. There are traces of other trefoil designs/decoration in the chapel.
You are also quite right about the day Carl. A golden one. I was sitting on the side of Orwell Quay, with my wife, daughter, and two granddaughters sitting near me me, all fishing fairly successfully for crab, in perfect weather. I remember thinking 'this is a perfect, golden day', and usually you know, when you're given one of these, you only realise it afterwards, sometimes long afterwards. So it's good to make that realisation at the time.
Love to you both, Mike.
We discovered Orford this year on a long weekend near Snape. Rather fancied the lovely fish restaurant in the Market Square with its own smokery at the rear but Oz & Lily insisted we didn't venture in. Oz has his own smokery at the rear but it's not as attractive.
Hello Rog. I remember that smokery - smoke coming out of all the crack and seeping under the roof tiles, gobs of tar issuing from some of them, then you go into the shop part selling smoked foods - this too is fairly smoky -although on a clear day you can see almost across it, and there in the middle of the shop is a smoke stained sign saying 'NO SMOKING'.
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