Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Colchester

Colchester – Colchester Castle and Cellar/Rooftop Tour

I’ve been to Colchester many times before, but I’ve never quite managed to visit the castle. I’ve had a trial National Art Pass which gave free entry, meaning this was a perfect time to visit before it expired. The usual adult entry cost for the castle is £12.50 and being honest, this felt a little too steep given that the tour is an extra charge.

The Norman doorway. As a brief history of the castle, it is built on the site of a Roman temple which had fallen into a state of disrepair during the Dark Ages. King William I ordered the construction of the castle in 1074 to help protect his new kingdom and it lasted in that state until it was purchased by John Wheely in 1683 who had a plan to pull it down. He took down the top floor, but felt that the whole project was too much and he abandoned it, so the castle was saved. It then became used as prison but was purchased by the town in 1920 and then turned into a museum. There’s plenty of evidence in the structure of its Roman foundations as much of the material was reused in the castle’s construction.

The well and I was fortunate to have a child demanding coins from his parents to throw into it which meant that I could see how deep the water was. Behind the well are the steps down the cellars which I went down later on during a tour.

When I entered the staff member offered a comprehensive introduction to the castle which all seemed suitably welcoming. She mentioned that I could indeed have free entry with my National Art Pass but asked if I would like to go on a paid tour of the cellars and the rooftop. As this was £3.85 I thought I’d go for that. The museum itself took around 50 minutes to look around, which worked perfectly for my tour which started an hour after I entered.

A model of how it is thought that the castle looked in May 1157, when King Henry II stayed for a week.

Different types of stone that were used in the castle’s construction.

The Sheepen Cauldron which was buried as a religious act at Sheepen, near to Colchester, in around 1275-1140BC. The sign at the museum notes that this is the earliest known bronze cauldron in England and is also the first known example of sheet metal being used to create a working object as opposed to a decorative item.

These are coin moulds from Cunobelin’s mint at Sheepen.

This is the tombstone of Longinus who was born in what is now Bulgaria and at the age of 25 he joined the First Thracian Cavalry regiment. He was sent to fight in Colchester and he died at the age of around 40 in the town in 55AD. As was the Roman tradition, he was buried by the side of the road leading to London and this tombstone was established by his family.

A 2010 Colchester Beer Festival glass was on display as it had imagery of Boudicca on, the woman who ransacked Colchester.

I’m fascinated by exhibits such as this as their survival always feels slightly remarkable. It’s a representation of a Green Man, ancient symbols of growth and fertility. This is from a building which stood on the site of the current Town Hall.

The exhibitions at the castle contained plenty about the local history. This is a decorated floor tile of the town’s Borough Arms dating to the fifteenth century and found at St. Gile’s Church.

I then meandered down to the former cells which felt slightly eerie as I was the only person down there.

Some of the former cells.

After walking around the museum, it was then time for the tour, which consisted of the guide, myself and a family of three. The guide warned us that tall people would have to bend quite a lot as the passages were quite low. Often guides say this and there really isn’t any issue, but at 6’0″ I have to say it was quite stretch to get down there with a backpack. Now I’m no longer 23 and as supple as I was. The guide was engaging and knowledgeable, she seemed to really enjoy taking visitors around and was keen to answer questions.

As some background, these cellars were once filled with sand. This was removed and it later caused structural issues. The white wall is newer and from the 1930s, these are ensuring that the castle doesn’t fall down as that would be seen as sub-optimal.

The castle is built on a former Roman temple and the difference is visible in the cellars where the castle boundaries were slightly different.

The crack is visible which is why the engineers in the 1930s were worried about the whole thing falling down.

Some medieval graffiti.

We then went up a different set of steps to visit the castle’s roof.

Views of Colchester and also what they think is the only tree growing on top of a castle. This isn’t random foliage, they’ve repotted it to ensure that it doesn’t damage the structure of the building.

Views of the roof. There was once another floor, but it was taken down to sell the stone as building materials.

Looking back along the walkway.

And with that, we made our way back down after the end of the 45 minute tour. I very much enjoyed my just under two hour visit to the castle, there was plenty of information about the history and I was pleased how cheap the tour was. It’s not a cheap castle to visit, so I was pleased to have my National Art Pass, but I’m not sure I would have felt I received value for the £12.50 admission charge if I hadn’t got free entry. For those who do visit, I’d positively recommend going on the tour as it gave much more context to the history of the building.

October 3, 2023
Colchester – The Magnet Micropub (Interview)

I’ve worked my way around many pubs in Colchester, but I was delighted to hear (on an LDWA walk where one of the walkers is friends with the owners….) that there’s a new one opening and especially so as it’s a micropub. I drone on about those a lot and I suspect many more will open in the years to come, which is something rather positive for the hospitality industry.

Anyway, although I haven’t had chance to visit yet, the owners kindly agreed to do a little interview. This also means that I am now planning a little road trip with friends to visit Colchester pubs again (any excuse I admit….), including the Magnet.

The pub opened in late May 2021, so this is all new and exciting. I like the “an idea was formed whilst somewhat worse for wear in a micropub”, as I’ve had great (or what I considered to be great) ideas with friends in similar circumstances. I also think that this idea must have been formed in the very lovely Hop Beer Shop, which I visited last year.

The micropub is located in part of the former Norfolk pub on North Station Road, a short walk from Colchester railway station. Which makes it an ideal location to pop to before getting a train (or having just got off one for that matter). The pub takes its name from William Gilbert, a local scientist who did work on magnetism, so relevance to local heritage which I rather like.

The owners are Robert and Ian, who have been spending the last few months getting everything ready for their new venture.

What made you open a micropub and who is involved in the project?

An idea was formed whilst somewhat worse for wear in a micropub in Chelmsford at the tail end of 2019 which was then amazingly followed through. The micropub is co-owned by Rob and I. Prior to this we had both worked in finance.

Have there been any obstacles in your opening, other than the huge challenge of Covid-19?

The biggest challenge has been finding suitable properties and then educating landlords / freeholders etc., on the benefits of a micropub, particularly when changes to planning permission were required. As regards The Magnet itself (aside from Covid-19 related restrictions) the biggest obstacle was getting the utilities isolated and connected.

Projects like this sound fun, has that been how it has worked out so far?

We have been very lucky with the trades persons and suppliers that we partnered up with. Their level of expertise and enthusiasm has been unbelievable. Also the friends and family members who have lent their time and skills to the project,

Your pub has been formed from part of the former Norfolk pub, how many people will it seat?

It will seat approximately 50, including the courtyard area.

What sort of atmosphere are you hoping to achieve?

Relaxed but convivial, with conversation promoted.

Do you have a favourite other micropub in East Anglia? Have they inspired you with this project?

Following on from the last question, Farmers Yard in Maldon, and Mawson’s in Southend, in terms of atmosphere.

Will there be decadent bar snacks available? I have a passion for locally sourced Scotch Eggs! Although I’m also content with scampi fries…..

At the moment we have locally produced crisps and cakes, but are thinking of expanding our savoury bar snack offerings. So if you have any suppliers that you recommend, we would be grateful to hear them.

Will the vibe be more craft beer or real ale? Or a crossover between the two?

We built a small dedicated cold room and are able to serve both cask and keg at a perfect temperature. We have three handles for cask, and five keg lines which currently host two IPAs, a pilsner, a fruity wheat beer and a cider. We also offer cider from the box, locally distilled spirits and a range of bottled drinks

Which breweries are you looking to source from?

As both Rob and I are new to this game we are currently only sourcing from local breweries (predominantly Colchester Brewery) but as we get more experienced we may start to expand the net wider.

Do you have any longer-term plans for the micropub with regards to things that you want to achieve in the future?

It’s still very early days for The Magnet (we only opened on May 21st). So making it a success is priority number one.

The pub has a website at https://www.themagnetpub.co.uk/.

June 1, 2021
Colchester – Abbey Arms

Just for clarity, this visit is from a couple of months ago, this isn’t a pub serving illegally during the lockdown. This was our penultimate pub of the evening and it was busy inside, as well as outside by the time we left. The pub was modernised a few years ago and I do like what they’re done with the exterior, it’s much improved from what was here before.

For some reason I’ve failed to note what I ordered in this pub, although knowing Nathan, he can probably still remember. So, it’s not ideal I can’t comment on that, although I do know that the choice wasn’t overly exciting in terms of there being no darker options, but the beer quality was fine (I’d have remembered if it wasn’t) and the primary selection is from the Colchester Brewery.

I wasn’t overly impressed at the acoustics of the pub, it’s a large single bar affair with no room divisions and a more modern design which just seemed soulless to me. The pub staff were friendly, although were perhaps unfortunately distracted by some of the pub’s more vibrant customers. There was a community feel to the whole arrangement though, I suspect someone new to the area would find the environment welcoming in terms of meeting new people and feeling welcome.

I wasn’t quite sure who the pub’s target clientele were, there was what I felt to be a slightly uneasy mix between the bright beer fonts and the real ales perched next to them. I’m more used to sports bars putting craft beer in alongside lagers to try and keep on trend (or just sell lagers and sod all else), and that’s something that is potentially quite exciting to me (well, not the sports bar or lagers bit obviously). But, I can’t complain that they’ve made an effort to sell real ale and it’s rather lovely that it’s working for them. The pub had also made an effort to stock a wide variety of spirits, so it wasn’t all generic and bland.

There was nothing wrong with the pub, but I’ll mark this one as not being for me (in fairness to them, very few sports bars are, so I was never their target market), I think I’d have rather it was the old fashioned local it was a few years ago, or something more modern in terms of craft beer or innovative and exciting real ales. But, the pub was busy, so I hope it’s doing well and that’s all that matters in these challenging times….

November 29, 2020
Colchester – Queen Street Brew House

This visit was a few weeks ago, this isn’t a pub staying open during the lockdown…..

The pub is very well-reviewed in numerous places on-line and there are comments about its quirkiness running throughout those reviews. When we arrived, it also had the most onerous health related rules that I’ve seen in a pub in terms of what they had on posters by the door. They required a face mask when moving around (not required at the time, so they were ahead of the curve here), they required temperature checks, address details and had a complex toilet procedure involving spades. The pub then proceeded to not really enforce these rules, although I’d add that everything still felt safe and they were following what they needed to do.

I think quirky is an appropriate word for this set-up, which looks like I’ve done it (hence, I approve). It also didn’t serve any obvious point, as customers walked in both directions on both sides, so it more corralled people together if anything. But, then again, it did remind people to be careful and that was useful.

It’s cheaper than plastic screens and just as effective, so why not? I didn’t buy the round here, so I’m not sure exactly how friendly the service was, but apparently it was all polite and welcoming from what I was told.

I had an Old Man and The Sea from Mighty Oak Brewing, which I thought was served at a temperature which seemed to me to be nearer to frozen than chilled. It knocked the entire taste out of the beer, there were no flavours evident at all, and I think that’s the first time I’ve experienced that with a beer of this type. There are meant to be flavours of espresso coffee, dark chocolate and dark fruit, but they were indiscernible and the nearest I’ve tasted to this is Guinness Extra Cold (which in itself has rather died away). Rather awkwardly, the pub toasted my rating on Untappd…

I do know that Mighty Oak Brewing are a decent brewery, they’re local to this pub being from Maldon, and I’ve had their beers at the Hop Beer Shop, United Brethren and the Duke of York, all in Chelmsford.

Anyway, back to this pub, which was beautifully quirky in very many ways and it clearly had a loyal clientele. It had a community feel to it, with an impressive range of Belgian bottled beers and a number of ciders. Even though some of their arrangements might have felt quirky, it still seemed safe to me, it’s all rather different to what the chains were doing at the time. So, I think I quite liked this pub and the reviews on Untappd don’t suggest any issues with the beer, so I’ll pop back again at some time as their choice of beer and ciders looked innovative and intriguing.

November 16, 2020
Colchester – Three Wise Monkeys

This visit was from a few weeks ago, when we went to this craft beer bar and BBQ restaurant, which is certainly not a bad little combination. It’s well reviewed, indeed one of the best rated locations in Colchester, both for the food and beer. This venue, which also incorporates a gin bar, opened in 2014 and they’ve also now opened a sister outlet in the centre of Ipswich.

Some of the beer options, with a suitably interesting range of different beer styles. The staff here were engaging and efficient, although we were wise to book a table as they seemed to be quite full. There was a minor error with one drink in the evening, but the staff cleared that problem up promptly, so all was well. Everything was clean and organised and they were taking the appropriate health precautions.

The ‘We Oat to Know Better’ from Wild Weather Ales of Reading in Berkshire in conjunction with Brew York, this was rather lovely, a fruity flavour and suitably sweet. It’s marketed as an imperial strawberry milkshake, something which sounds tempting to me at the best of times. It was perhaps too sweet to drink a lot of this, so I switched to something a little darker.

This is the ‘Black Sow’ from the White Hag brewery, perfectly acceptable as a milk stout, although I thought it lacked some richness and strength of flavours.

My phone camera’s wide angle has rather squished this image so that the portion size looks small, but there’s more here than the photo might suggest. It’s the smoked meat combo of beef brisket, sausage and pulled pork, which was all rather lovely, although the brisket was just a little too fatty for me. The sausage was though excellent with a richness of flavour and the pulled pork was tender. The chips were crunchy on the exterior and fluffy inside, the gherkins added texture and flavour and everything was well cooked and flavoured.

I like the whole concept of this restaurant, and also liked that it was clearly working given how many people were dining and drinking there. They do take deposits before reserving tables, which is probably a sensible idea, although might put some customers off. They don’t reply to TripAdvisor reviews, which is a shame as I would have liked to have known what happened to cause this recent review:

“We paid a deposit to have a table at 9:15 and we got here 15 minutes early. All we done was walk in and ask if we could sit down early and the minute we walked in the general manager was so disgusting to us he spoke to us disgusting. When my partner asked if there’s somewhere we can sit whilst we are waiting for our table the general manager Charles Gregory all of a sudden got so rude to my partner started telling him under no circumstances can he accommodate us even though he let two other girls sit down inside the bar. What a bunch of contemptuous rude disgusting people running an establishment you should be ashamed of. I will be taking this further to the owners of how DISGUSTING AND OBNOXIOUS the general manager is he should be ashamed of how he treated us. Why he felt the need to look down at us like he was so smug and better than us. Disgusting hope he gets fired”

I’m sure there are two sides to the story there, or disgustinggate….

Anyway, I like the venue and thought that the craft beer selection was varied and interesting, especially given the limitations of trade at the moment. The staff were also knowledgeable about the beer options and keen to engage, always a positive sign in a venue such as this. Perhaps they’ll get to opening a venue in Norwich one day….

November 9, 2020
Colchester – St. Botolph’s Priory (Vault of William Hawkins)

I don’t know who William Hawkins is, but he must have been relatively powerful or influential to have had a vault here at St. Botolph’s Church. The vault would have been here since before the fire at the church in 1648, and perhaps before the Dissolution of the Monasteries just over a century before. It’s perhaps not an ideal situation for your vault, which was deliberated designed to be inside, to be left out in the open. However, it’s also interesting that the site has been marked and not left to be forgotten over the centuries.

August 18, 2020
Colchester – St. Botolph’s Priory

In the tenth century, there was a church here dedicated to St. Botolph, but a Kentish priest with the name of Norman fancied setting up an Augustinian priory. So, after some research and approval, this magnificent structure was built and the religious institution was established. It was the first Augustinian priory to be constructed in the country and it also, very sensibly, honours St. Julian.

The rather glorious remaining section of the west front of the priory.

Much of the church has been reconstructed using Roman brick that was robbed from various walls and buildings around Colchester.

These pillars have stood the test of time…..

This is the nave, looking towards the west end of the priory. The priory was closed down during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, but the nave area was saved as this was used by the local population at their church. Everything that the monks used, such as the cloisters, numerous chapels and their area for prayer was all pulled down.

The church in its new form survived until 1648, when it was destroyed during a siege that took place during the English Civil War. There were plans to rebuild the church after the Civil War, but they never came to pass, so the ruins have stood here now for over 350 years, currently under the management of English Heritage.

August 17, 2020
Colchester – Site of Shooting of Charles Lucas and George Lisle

This memorial notes where Sir Charles Lucas (1613-1648) and Sir George Lisle (1610-1648) were shot on the orders of Sir Thomas Fairfax, the Parliamentarian General. The two men were shot in the castle yard on 28 August 1648, following the surrender of the town to Parliamentary troops during the Civil War. The men were buried at St. Giles’s Church in the town and after the restoration of the Monarchy, there was a commemoration ceremony and the actions of Fairfax were rejected by many. Lucas was given a posthumous peerage in 1666 and the decision to shoot them was seen as a miscarriage of justice, even for the period. Lisle had said to the firing squad “now rebels, do your worst” and Lucas was equally brave.

This memorial stone was unveiled here behind Colchester Castle, where the men were killed, on 20 October 1892 at a ceremony attended by Henry Laver.

August 17, 2020
Colchester – The Victoria Inn

The Victoria’s web-site has the message “we pride ourselves on being able to source many ales that you may not have tasted before, many from micro breweries who don’t usually supply nationally so we take the time to go and fetch them ourselves. Not for us the safe route of Adnams, London Pride, Doombar, etc……” which is one of the most reassuring things that a pub can say. Although I understand that many pubs are tied and don’t have this flexibility, it’s still relatively rare to get an interesting choice of beers.

Some of the real ales and ciders, there were also pumps to the right with what might be defined as more exotic craft options, with beers from Bone Machine, Turning Point and the Cloudwater Brew Co. There was a friendly welcome from a staff member perched by the counter, giving him an ideal vantage point to get customers to sign in, seat them and engage with them as required. The staff members were helpful, friendly and there was a relaxed feel to the whole pub. All rather lovely.

This is the two-thirds of the Mary Ann is Dead from Bone Machine, although I caused some moderate confusion by ordering a drink in this measure. The barman was immensely helpful in working out the price and finding a suitable glass, I have somewhat got in the habit of ordering in thirds without checking the pub was set-up to do that. I liked that this unintentional curveball didn’t annoy the barman though. The drink has a rich and decadent taste of mint running through it, along with the chocolate flavour, very moreish. There was a limited aftertaste though, although the initial hit was quite strong, but this is still a very beautiful drink.

I pinched from Nathan a taster of the Multi-Dimensional Being from Cloudwater Brew Co. and I have no idea what on earth this drink was, defined loosely as a brown ale and it had a whole array of different flavours. My palate wasn’t good enough to know what these flavours were, other than slightly fruity whilst maintaining some elements of a stronger beer such as notes of chocolate. But, whatever the flavours were, this was a quite magnificent drink and I opted for one of my ever rare 4.75 out of 5 scores on Untappd. I could rightly say that no-one is really bothered about what I think of a beer, but I’m pleased that the brewery noted and acknowledged the score when they saw it.

It was a little bit of a shame that the pub didn’t open longer into the evening, as there were numerous other drinks options that looked tempting. But, I’m sure I’ll be back in the future. And this is one of my favourite pubs of the year.

August 17, 2020