I was attending a conference in Colchester and whilst it is a long drive from Birmingham to Colchester, I planned a visit to the seaside. My aim was to complete a circular route starting at Walton-on-the-Naze, onto Frinton-on-Sea and then finally Clacton-on-Sea before heading back to Colchester. My visit to the beach huts and the sea fronts of these towns forms the basis of another post.
My drive from Birmingham was long and tiring and my first port of call was Walton upon Naze. I drove through the town looking for a place to park and carried on until I found myself at the Naze tower. Here there was ample parking and a place to have lunch. Stretching my legs after the long drive, I began to investigate the Naze tower. The architecture is in the form of a pillar and the tower is a prominent structure on the headland overlooking the container terminal of Harwich. I took several pictures and then went inside the tower climbing up to the observation platform.
The structure has had many uses throughout the years and one of them was the installation of a radar dish during the Second World War. The tower was first used to guide ships into the area acting as a landmark to the ports and river estuary. There is a circular steel staircase that climbs through several floors. Some of the floors are part of the tea room whilst others house museum items and then the upper floors act as an art gallery. Each room is small and circular with a window overlooking the area. Each floor contains curious museum objects or fascinating works of art as my pictures show. Some of the objects are very random but also fun to view. Once I had reached the observation platform, there were views out towards the sea and the surrounding landscape. The weather was glorious and there was not a cloud in the sky. This was remarkable considering the rain that we have had in recent weeks. Then it was back down the steel staircase and another chance to admire those items that I had seen on my way up. I had a good lunch at the visitor centre after the climb. I was glad that I had stumbled upon the Naze tower. The future of the structure is a worrying one. Once the tower was a quarter of a mile inland, but now they estimate that it only has a lifespan possibly of 20 years until the sea claims the tower. This would be a great shame and work is being done to stop the loss of the tower.
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Further reading about the Naze Tower
Christ the King – Sophiatown where many anti apartheid rebels sought sanctuary from the Government
This wonderful statue was on Constitutional Hill.
Another interesting place was near to Melville and it was called 27 boxes. It was a container village that had become a centre for arts and crafts. There were many small businesses located there.
Although there was work to be done in the conference, we did have a day out to visit Soweto and visited the Hector Pieterson Museum and Nelson Mandela’s house, 8115 in Soweto. All very memorable places to visit. On the final day after the conference finished, we jumped on the hop-on and hop-off bus. It gave use the chance to visit Constitutional Hill and the Apartheid Museum both of which raised stirring emotions not only of the period of British rule but also the past transgressions of the White government that imposed the evil of apartheid. The present society is fractured but it is trying its best to rectify itself and move forward. I left with some incredible memories of a place that is so different to normal cities that I have visited.
