Hawks go to Sulgrave Manor

by Eleanor Coward
 

Hawks go to Sulgrave Manor, a Tudor manor, as part of our Tudor curriculum.
 

We set off to Sulgrave Manor by coach on Monday, 22nd March, 2010, at nine o'clock.

When we arrived at Sulgrave Manor, the first activity was dressing up like a Tudor child.  The girls put on a shift, which is a bit like a dress, but a bit shorter, and it is made out of linen.  Then we put on a kirtle, which is a bit like a skirt, but longer.  It was made out of wool.  Then we put on a body.  It is a bit like a small waistcoat.  It was laced up.  It was made out of wool.  We also had to put on a coif, which is bit like a hat, except it sits more on the head.  The boys wore a ruff (shirt), which is a bit like a collared shirt, except it had more of a ruff.  They wore britches, which are a sort of trousers.  The boys wore a jerkin, which nowadays we call a waistcoat.  They also wore a flat hat, which you can imagine was a flat hat!

We went and looked at the kitchen, and we learnt a lot.  The oven was one metre long!  Only the rich ate sugar.  If we lived back then, a 1kg block of sugar would cost 300 pounds!  The poor would eat dried peas, dried beans and wheat mixed together to get a porridge sort of mixture.  The rich ate fish, as well as dried grapes.  In modern days we call them raisins.

We tried writing our names with quill pens and ink and using the Tudor alphabet.  It was very hard!

We went and saw the bedchamber.  It is called a bedchamber because there was no ceiling, only a roof.  There was a four poster bed.  The four poster bed had a ceiling to stop bugs and mice and other creatures falling on top of you.  The four poster bed also had curtains so you could have privacy.  People had to walk through one room to get to another room, so you could have privacy when you were behind the curtains.  As there was no bathroom, you would have a chamber pot to the toilet in.  The bed was carved.

In the courtyard hall we learnt a dance called Horse's Gallop.

The kitchen had a pump that pumps cold water out of the ground.  They had scales for weighing.  They did not say how many grams each thing was.  Instead, it would balance if the things were equal and would not balance if they weren't the same weight.

For lunch we had to bring in a Tudor style lunch.  Here is what I had for lunch 'Tudor style':  bread and butter sandwiches, an old fashioned English apple, a chicken drumstick, one pickled gherkin and three Banbury cakes.

We saw some instruments.  These are some of the instruments the Tudors played:  the zither and the crumhorn.

On the way home we were all very tired but all enjoyed it. 

The address is:
               Sulgrave Manor,
               Manor Road,
               Sulgrave,
               nr. Banbury.
               OX17 2SD

We learnt a lot about the Tudors and what they did.  I hope you learnt a lot about the Tudors through this report. 

Overall, it was a great school trip.  This school trip was the best trip so far!