21st century kids go
Towards the end of the Autumn term, Year 5, accompanied by Patsy Howes and Emma Robinson, travelled to Sulgrave Manor, the home of George
Washington’s ancestors, to find out what life was like in Tudor times. This is what they had to report ...
O
n arrival we were met by the master of the house, Lawrence Washington, and one of his maids, Rose. We changed our attire
from present day clothing to that of Tudor times. After that we were given a guided tour of the house. Lawrence Washington was very proud of the fact he was a modern
man; his brick built chimneys told us and the neighbourhood that. There were also signs above his house that told us that he had made his money from wool – two sheep and some bales of best English wool. Next we went to the bedchamber; it was not a bedroom as it did not
have a ceiling. Swaddling bands were used to wrap the baby to ensure that it grew straight bones and provided a means of hanging the baby up to escape the rats.
After descending the stairs to the Great Hall, 12 of our class became Lawrence Washington’s children; remarkably all his children survived into adulthood, usually nine out of 10 would have died. As we were coming up to Christmas the Great Hall was decorated in ivy, holly, mistletoe and rosemary and there was a ‘Kissing Bell’ hanging over the table. Lunch was Tudor style – brown
bread with cheese or ham followed by an apple or pear and, as a treat, we had some parkin.
After lunch it was time to go to school. In the schoolroom we had to write our names in special Tudor letters which both looked and sounded very different. The style of writing is called calligraphy. We had to use goose feathers
30 / The Sibfordian
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