I’ve had rather a busy week, ending with a rather splendid college reunion. But of course everything else has gone out of the window, and I also have rather a large sleep debt to pay off.
Today brings another chunk of translation of an early Latin Vita of St George. Chapters 9 and 11 are in my inbox now. The version is a very rough draft. The only difficulty is that the translator doesn’t read my emails with feedback, so makes the same mistakes every time. This means that I shall have to correct and finish it myself. I hope to do the job on these chunks this week. The translation is going forward nicely, tho; some 8 chapters still to do.
Today also brought a welcome email from the Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service with unwelcome news. In 1969 a team of divers surveyed the ruins of a Roman fort in the sea off Felixstowe, known locally as Walton Castle. A report was filed with the museum, and was accessible a decade ago. The email today tells me that they cannot locate it now. I have written therefore to the sub-aqua club, who may have it in their files. Another email went to the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology, who published the article mentioning the survey, to see if I can get in contact with the author in case he has a copy. We tend to think of museums and archives as safe repositories. But the truth is that history is vanishing before our eyes. So it has always been.
Last week I was working industriously on the new QuickLatin. This is going well, and crude errors are disappearing. I must get a version released online, as a base version for further work.
My backlog of interesting topics to blog about continues to increase. So much to do!
From Wikipedia… “Walton Castle was a Saxon Shore Fort in the Roman province of Britannia.
It was located in the village of Walton, Suffolk, now part of Felixstowe.
Much of our knowledge of the fort derives from an outline drawing and plan of 1623, as well as some 18th-century literary accounts.[2] The 1623 drawings show a plan similar to Burgh Castle to the north.
Image of Walton Castle at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walton_Castle,_Suffolk
Dear Roger – I just stumbled upon your blog about Walton Castle – to say I’m impressed is an understatement!
My stumble came about when I was looking at a recent Planning application from the Felixstowe Ferry Golf Club and in particular, a document about the archaeology which you might find of interest yourself:
http://publicaccessdocuments.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/NorthgatePublicDocs/01536046.pdf
The paper referenced an article by “Kagar” on Walton Castle in CA which I tried to find. Googling led me to your blog and the wealth of information you have amassed and so kindly shared – and, incidentally, the correct name of Hagar.
I’m the Local History Recorder for the parish of Kirton under the scheme run by the SLHC:
https://slhc.org.uk/recorders/
The reason I’m writing is because, many moons ago, I was a good friend of my then Trimley St Martin counterpart – Ray Howlett – a very knowledgeable local man. Ray said he had always been told that the blocks of stone in the otherwise red brick walls of Trimley St Martin church along the High Road had been salvaged from the old Walton Castle.
I was thinking you may not have heard of this.
Of course it could be just another old bit of folk-lore but in the 32 years I have been the parish Recorder, there have been several occasions when what appeared on first sight fanciful, turned out to have its root in truth. I’m not a geological expert but I certainly wouldn’t want to dismiss casually what Ray told me.
Best wishes, Len
Hi Len,
Sorry about the delay – the spam filter ate 5 good comments including yours.
No, I certainly hadn’t heard that! I must trot down and take a look at the church. That sounds very possible. Why wouldn’t they use the local stone?
That url didn’t work for me. Any suggestions?
Thank you so much for writing!