A Festive Season with Elspeth in Framlingham

This was like spending Christmas in Candleford/Cranford, except East Anglian. Perhaps Framlingham isn't quite as pretty as the set/location of these two BBC dramas, but it has a feature - a castle - which they both lack.

As an East Anglian, the image of Framlingham castle is well known and is perhaps one of our most used for our region, especially from the mere. But the castle is not a favourite, as I shared on Wozzon. It may be the region's largest but it consists of empty curtain walls and hardly anything to see inside, and no sense of what it would have been as a Norman or Tudor residence.

The little town of 3,000 fits well with the carols I heard (O little town of...). It is better served than a village, but without a railway. It only ever had a branch line, joining the East Suffolk line at Campsea Ashe, which closed in the 1960s. Even my normal country abode has a railway and a major road which makes it feel less cut off.

Framlingham feels self sufficient in both senses - that it has more than a equal size village's share of shops, but that it needs them. I also sense a pride and self sufficiency from its people, who if they do need a bigger town, go only slightly bigger to Woodbridge or other modest East Suffolk location. Ipswich feels a long way off in all senses, and it is by bus -75 mins, bi hourly and only office hours. Mentally, I felt more remote than the farm I usually reside in.

Farm mistyped is the local name for Framlingham, or with a cryptic crossword clue hat on - 'funny farm'. Although Bury St Edmunds being shortened to Bury and King's Lynn being called Lynn feel comfortable abbreviations, Fram sounds pretentious, and in crowd, particularly when coupled with College - the gothic Prince Albert memorial independent school seen from the castle.

Independence and non conformists are well represented for a small town. The grave of strict Baptist Thomas Mills is in his garden as he wasn't allowed to be buried in the church. He gave the town one of its two sets of almshouses and the High School is also named after him. There are three old non conformist chapel buildings - two are no longer in use but have been joined by two more; the living one is the Unitarian meeting house by the old courtroom library. The Conformist church is very interesting rather than impressive or beautiful. Historical luminaries such as Anne Boleyn's' Uncle, Elizabeth's cousin who plotted against her and his poet relations are buried here, as well as Henry VIII's first son. I am fascinated by the Glory painting in it which deserves a piece of its own, and could be both nonconformist and show some quite radical independence, depending on interpretation.

If you're on the tourist route A1120, I recommend calling into Framlingham, pottering in one of its several shops and cafes/pubs. If you're an American interested in how your towns got its name, also stop here as Framingham Massachusetts derives from a New World Seeker from this town whose home still stands.

It felt uncanny to watch a period drama on television whilst there and be able to resonate with a modern version of its town, and I am thankful of the opportunity for some respite. But as I always knew, I'm more of a city dweller, though I connect with the non conformist and independents; and it has helped inspire my research on Tudor history.