14 January 2025

A search in Colchester for
Camelot, Old King Cole,
and the star that twinkles
‘up above the world so high’

The statue of Jane and Ann Taylor, authors of ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’, by sculptor Mandy Pratt, on Colchester High Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

Old King Cole was a merry old soul,
And a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl,
And he called for his fiddlers three.

Every fiddler he had a fiddle,
And a very fine fiddle had he;
Oh, there’s none so rare, as can compare,
With King Cole and his fiddlers three.


Two of us spent much of yesterday in Colchester in north-east Essex, the second-largest town or city in Essex, with a population of over 130,000. Colchester is 80 km (50 miles) north-east of London on the Great Eastern Main Line railway, and stands on the River Colne.

Charlotte and I were on our way to the small village of Frating yesterday, but we stopped for a few hours in Colchester on the way there and back, to see the castle, the remains of the Roman Wall and some of the older churches, buildings and sites.

Colchester stands on the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital, and so it claims to be Britain’s first city. But it also has associations with Shakespeare’s play Cymbeline, and it claims to be the home of three of the best-known English nursery rhymes: ‘Old King Cole’, ‘Humpty Dumpty’ and ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’. Some local traditions also try to link Colchester with the Camelot of King Arthur.

There are several theories about the origin of the name Colchester. Some contend that it comes from the Latin words colonia, a Roman settlement with rights equivalent to those of Roman citizens, and castra, meaning fortifications and referring to the city walls, the oldest in Britain. Others link the name with the River Colne, which flows through Colchester.

Colchester claims to be the oldest recorded town in Britain because it was mentioned by Pliny the Elder, who died in 79 CE. The Celtic name of the town, Camulodunon, appears on coins minted in the period 20-10 BCE. Before the Roman conquest of Britain it was already a centre of power for Cunobelin – known to Shakespeare as Cymbeline – king of the Catuvellauni (ca 5 BCE-40 CE), who minted coins there.

Shakespeare set his play Cymbeline, also known as The Tragedie of Cymbeline or Cymbeline, King of Britain, in Ancient Britain and based it on legends about the early historical Celtic British King Cunobeline.

Although it is listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance or even a comedy. Like Othello and The Winter’s Tale, it deals with the themes of innocence and jealousy. While the precise date when it was written is unknown, the play was produced as early as 1611.

Is the ancient name of Camulodunum a clue to a potential site of legendary Camelot? … a pub sign on Colchester High Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Colchester has also been suggested as one of the potential sites of Camelot, on account of having been the capital of Roman Britain and its ancient name of Camulodunum. But this is not considered likely by academics, as in Arthurian times Colchester was under Saxon control.

Colchester claims to be the home of three of the best known English nursery rhymes: ‘Old King Cole’, ‘Humpty Dumpty’ and ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’, although the legitimacy of all three claims is disputed.

Local legend places Colchester as the seat of King Cole of the rhyme ‘Old King Cole’, a legendary ancient king of Britain. In folklore, the name Colchester was said to mean Cole’s Castle, although this theory does not have academic support. In the legend, Helena, the daughter of Cole, married the Roman senator Constantius Chlorus, who had been sent by Rome as an ambassador and was named as Cole’s successor.

Helena’s son became the Emperor Constantine I. Helena became known as Saint Helena of Constantinople and is said to have found the true cross. She is now the patron saint of Colchester. This is recognised in the emblem of Colchester: a cross and three crowns.

The medallion of the Mayor of Colchester includes a Byzantine-style icon of Saint Helena. Her statue is atop the town hall, although local legend says that it was originally a statue of the Virgin Mary that was later fitted with a cross.

The legend that King Cole of Colchester was the father of the Empress Saint Helena, and the grandfather of Constantine the Great, first appeared in Henry of Huntingdon’s Historia Anglorum and Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae. But the claim may predate both Henry and Geoffrey.

The statue of Saint Helena at the top of Colchester Town Hall … was she the daughter of Old King Cole? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Colchester is a widely linked with the nursery rhyme ‘Humpty Dumpty’. During the siege of Colchester in the English Civil War in 1648, a Royalist sniper known as ‘One-Eyed Thompson’ sat in the belfry of the Church of Saint Mary-at-the-Walls (Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall) and was given the nickname Humpty Dumpty, most likely because of his size, Humpty Dumpty being a common insult for the overweight.

Thompson was shot down (Humpty Dumpty had a great fall) and, shortly after, the town was lost to the Parliamentarians (all the king’s horses and all the king’s men / couldn’t put Humpty together again). Another version says Humpty Dumpty was a cannon at the top of the church. The Church of Saint Mary-at-the-Walls still retains its Norman tower up to the top few feet, which are a Georgian repair.

In literary terms, Colchester also has links with Daniel Defoe, who set the first part of his 1722 novel Moll Flanders in Colchester, and George Orwell. In A tour through England and Wales, Daniel Defoe records that C5,259 people in Colchester died in the plague in 1665, ‘more in proportion than any of its neighbours, or than the city of London’. George Orwell refers to Colchester in his book Nineteen Eighty-Four, when Colchester is the scene of a nuclear detonation. He is being honoured with a new £2 coin this month to mark the 75th anniversary of his death on 21 January 1950.

It may not merit literary attention, but the third nursery rhyme associated with Colchester is ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’. It was written by the sisters Jane Taylor (1783-1824) and Ann Taylor (1782-1866), who both wrote children’s poems while they lived in West Stockwell Street, in Colchester’s Dutch Quarter, from 1796 to 1810. It was first published in 1806 with the title ‘The Star’.

The statue of the sisters Jane and Ann by the sculptor Mandy Pratt was unveiled on 4 May 2024 on Colchester High Street, opposite the Town Hall and West Stockwell Street. The opening words of ‘The Star’ are at the feet of the sculpture:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!


The sisters Jane and Ann Taylor lived in West Stockwell Street in Colchester’s Dutch Quarter from 1796 to 1810 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

A new blogging landmark,
reaching 1 million people
so far this month and
over 10.5 million hits

Nighttime in Porto … Portugal has a population of over 10.5 million people

Patrick Comerford

At some point early this morning, this blog reached yet another new peak, with 10.5 million hits since I first began blogging almost 15 years ago, back in 2010. Once again this is both a humbling statistic and a sobering figure that leaves me not with a sense of achievement but a feeling of gratitude to all who read and support this blog and my writing.

After I began blogging, it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million hits. It was over a year before this figure rose to 1 million by September 2013; 2 million in June 2015; 3 million by October 2016; 4 million on 19 November 2019; 5 million on 27 March 2021; 6 million on 1 July 2022; 7 million on 13 August 2023; 8 million by 30 April 2024; and 9 million on 21 October 2024.

But the rise in the number of hits has been phenomenal this month, reaching 9.5 million ten days ago (4 January 2025), 10 million two days ago (12 January 2025), and 10.5 million in the early hours of this morning.

Indeed, January 2025 is the first month this blog has ever had 1 million hits in a month – or even within a fortnight – with 1 million hits in January by the early hours today.

In recent months, the daily figures have been overwhelming on occasions, and five of the 10 days of busiest traffic have been in the past five days alone, and four more within the past year (2024):

• 289,076 (11 January 2025)
• 285,366 (12 January 2025)
• 261,422 (13 January 2025)
• 100,291 (10 January 2025)
• 64,077 at the end of the day (14 January 2025), or 59,095 by noon

• 35,452 hits (28 May 2024)
• 27,616 (11 May 2024)
• 26,974 (27 May 2024)
• 23,234 (3 September 2023)
• 22,436 (19 June 2024)

With this latest landmark figure of 10.5 million hits by today, and 1 million hits so far this month, once again I find myself asking questions such as:

• What do 10.5 million people look like?
• What are 10.5 million people when it comes to wating lists and refugees?
• What would £10.5 million, €10.5 million or $10.5 billion buy?
• What would £10 million, €10 million or $10 billion buy?

The Charles Bridge in Prague … the Czech Republic has a population of over 10.5 million people (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

It is estimated that 10.5 million people are about 0.1 per cent of the world’s population. Countries with a population of about 10.5 million include the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, the United Arab Emirates, Portugal and Sweden.

The population of the surrounding suburbs of Paris is estimated at around 10.5 million, which makes it the most populous urban area in the European Union. The total population of Paris is now estimated at 11,276,700.

Cities with a population of about 10.5 million include Bogotá, Jakarta, Chennai and Lima.

More tanh 10.5 million people in southern California are under red flag warnings for fire danger today as gusty winds are expected to hit the area.

Reports say 10.5 million people from Mexico and Central America are expected to relocate by 2050 to flee the effects of climate change.

Analysis by Save the Children last year shows how 10 .5million children were forced to flee their homes the previous year in the world's 10 largest crises. This pushed the number of children displaced globally to more than 50 million, the highest ever, with numbers more than doubling since 2010.

Royal Mail was fined £10.5 million by the regulator Ofcom last month for failing to meet delivery targets for first and second class mail.

Europe, including Russia west of the Urals, measures roughly 10.5 million sq km.

Scientists estimate that roughly 10% of the entire Earth is covered by Rainforests. That would make the total land mass covered by Rainforests to be about 15 million sq km in distance. But this is decreasing drastically due to ranching, mining, logging and agriculture.

One of the most warming figures personally in the midst of all these statistics is the one that shows my morning prayer diary is reaching by an average of 60-65 people each morning. I have been retired for almost three years now, but I think any of my colleagues would be prayerful thankful of congregations in their churches that averaged 420-450 people a week.

Today, I am very grateful to all 10.5 million readers and viewers of this blog to date, and for the small core group among them who join me in prayer, reading and reflection each morning.

Nightime in Paris … the population of the surrounding suburbs of Paris is estimated at around 10.5 million (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Updated 15 January 2025 with final figures for 14 January 2025

Daily prayer in Christmas 2024-2025:
21, Tuesday 14 January 2025

‘Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words,’ Saint Francis of Assisi … ‘The Vision of Saint Francis’ (ca 1590-1595) by El Greco in the National Gallery of Ireland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The 40-day season of Christmas continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February). This week began with the First Sunday of Epiphany (Epiphany I, 12 January 2025), with readings that focus on the Baptism of Christ.

Later this evening, I have a meeting of a town council committee in Stony Stratford that is involved with public art and sculpture on the streets of Stony Stratford. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘When the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught’ (Mark 1: 21) … the Old Synagogue in Krakow, built in 1407, is the oldest Jewish house of prayer in Poland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 1: 21-28 (NRSVA):

21 They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24 and he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ 26 And the unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching – with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ 28 At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

‘When the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught’ (Mark 1: 21) … on Synagogue Street in Singapore (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Reflection:

This morning’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist (Mark 1: 21-28) is the story of Christ’s visit to Capernaum, where he preaches and teaches in the synagogue. When he speaks, all are astounded at his teaching. But when he actually puts what he says it into practice, they are all amazed.

Christ not only teaches, but he puts it into practice, he teaches not just with knowledge, but with authority; not only can he say, but he can do.

In the Gospel reading at the Eucharist, we heard how Christ called his first disciples, Andrew and Simon Peter and the sons of Zebedee, James and John. Now, this morning’s Gospel reading tells us how Christ’s authority, in both word and deed, are first recognised.

Christ and his new disciples go to Capernaum, a prosperous town on the Sea of Galilee. It was the practice in the synagogue on Saturdays for the scribes, who specialised in the interpretation and application of Mosaic law to daily life, to quote scripture and tradition.

On this Saturday, however, Christ does not follow this practice. Instead, he speaks directly, confident of his authority and of his very essence. The Greek word here, ἐξουσία (exousía), has the same roots as the word in the Nicene Creed that is translated as ‘being’ or ‘substance’: ‘of one substance with the Father’ (ὁμοούσιον τῷ Πατρί, homoúsion to Patrí).

The ‘man with an unclean spirit’ (verse 23) was, we might say, possessed, or under the influence of evil forces. In the understanding of the time, he was under Satan’s direction, separated from God.

The devil is heard speaking through this man (verse 24), asking what Christ is doing meddling in the domain of evil. He recognises who Christ is and that his coming spells the end of the power of the devil. He understands the significance of the coming Kingdom. Wonder-workers of the day healed using ritual or magic, but Christ exorcises simply through verbal command (verse 25), so clearly he is divine.

The crowd now acknowledges Christ’s ‘authority’ in word and deed (verse 27).

The parallel reading of this story in Saint Luke’s Gospel (Luke 4: 31-37) follows the story of Christ preaching in the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4: 16-30), when he proclaims the foundational text for his ministry, almost like a manifesto:

18 ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’


These are high ideals and, if put into practice, threaten social stability and the ordering of society. This threat is realised by those who hear him, and they drive him out of the synagogue in Capernaum.

Driven out of that synagogue, Christ has three options:

1, To allow himself to be silenced.

2, To keep on preaching in other synagogues, but to never put into practice what he says, so that those who are worried have their fears allayed and realise he is no threat;

3, To preach and to put his teachings into practice, to show that he means what he says, that his faith is reflected in his priorities, to point to what the Kingdom of God is truly like.

Christ takes the third option. He brings good news to the poor, he releases this poor captive, he can now see things as they are and as they ought to be, the oppressed may go free, and all are amazed.

There is a saying attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi: ‘Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words.’

Christ preaches with authority. But in this Gospel reading we are not told what he said. We are only told what he did.

In his actions he demonstrates the love of God and the love of others that are at the heart of the Gospel, that should be at the heart of every sermon I preach. For the love of God and the love of others are the two commandments on which hang all the law and the prophets.

‘At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region’ (Mark 1: 28) … spreading fame and news, newspapers at a kiosk near the marina in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 14 January 2025):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘A Bag of Flour’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update by Rachel Weller, Communications Officer, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 14 January 2025) invites us to pray:

Pray for our partners in the Diocese of Jerusalem – for wisdom and strength to lead people through fear and uncertainty. Pray for bravery as they guide their communities and offer loving support.

The Collect:

Eternal Father,
who at the baptism of Jesus
revealed him to be your Son,
anointing him with the Holy Spirit:
grant to us, who are born again by water and the Spirit,
that we may be faithful to our calling as your adopted children;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Lord of all time and eternity,
you opened the heavens and revealed yourself as Father
in the baptism of Jesus your beloved Son:
by the power of your Spirit
complete the heavenly work of our rebirth
through the waters of the new creation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Heavenly Father,
at the Jordan you revealed Jesus as your Son:
may we recognize him as our Lord
and know ourselves to be your beloved children;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

‘At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region’ (Mark 1: 28) … the good and the famous in a line of sculptures on the campus of the University of Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org