Tudor Times for Year 5 at Hampton Court Palace
On Friday 15 November as part of their Global studies, Year 5 went to visit Hampton Court Palace. They took part in a workshop centred around King Henry and learnt all about life in the Tudor times, with the focus on water.
Here are some excellent recounts written by children who were on the trip.
” At 9:43 we arrived and I was so excited! First we saw these enormous gates and they were extremely beautiful and intricate. It was obviously to show off to visitors. When we went through the gates, we went into something called a base court. On one side of the path, there was a wine fountain, which at festivals was moved to a different spot and the taps were turned on so that wine spewed out of lion heads.
There was also a huge clocktower and many towers and chimneys. Chimneys were very expensive as fires were only for the rich and the poor did not always have chimneys to let out the smoke from cooking or staying warm. There were also so many glass windows and in those times glass was very expensive.
The brickwork in the base court was amazing. There were patterns everywhere. In those times designing the wall would have taken quite a lot of time and making each brick a different colour would have been very difficult, so that shows that you have to be very rich to be able to do that.
If, for example, the courtyard had been messy that would have shown that the king could be careless, lazy and poor. If the king was poor, that meant the country was poor which then meant that it was easy to invade. So if you impressed some visitors, then they would try to be your allies not your enemies and wouldn’t try to invade.
If you were a servant and walked through the elaborate gate, you would’ve been told off because only the guests and the king were allowed to go through those gates. The servants had their own way of getting in if you were caught (and you are servant) walking through the main gates then, you might have been sacked, tortured or else.
There were also many names like “Trainvs imp” and many more. This was because the previous owner, Cardinal Worsley was very proud of his credentials so that he showed off his knowledge by imprinting names of important Roman people on his castle so that whenever somebody walked, you could see all these names of famous people that you would be really surprised and think they were really clever. It took 35 years to build. If you wanted to work there, you would have to have a letter of recommendation from a gentry. You would also need to be person who always tells the truth and also isn’t a criminal! There is also a bow called a reverence-that is where you bow your head and bend your knees slightly. Also, you are not allowed to rise until the person who is the visitor says “you may rise”.
Let’s say you are a servant, and you went to the battery stairs and you would have perhaps learnt the great chain of being. This is the order from the bottom: devil, earth, plants, animals, criminals, servants, gentry, Baroness, Baron, Countess, Earl, Duchess, Duke, Princess, prince, queen, king, God. In other rooms, you might also come across stained glass windows. In eating halls, you might come across deer or stag horns or heads and you would find tapestries That have real gold thread in them and there are coats of arms from the ceiling. Also, there are multiple rooms. There is a room for servants will have tables at the back. You have the people who have just started serving the king or Queen, at the front of the room, you would have 2 gentries and a big double door. When you climb up the levels, you will get closer to the front of the room. If you climb to the highest level, you should be happy where you are but if you climb into the other room behind the door which is called the great watching room, you’ll be at the very bottom with the Baron or the Baroness. If you were at the bottom you would feel like you wanted to be higher up, closer to the king and feel more important. you would spread a rumour that is unkind, like you might say that the duchess had been saying something really mean about the King behind his back or married someone without permission and they both are keeping quiet. That will make you suspect them of being guilty of treason and be executed.
Then the king comes out of his private room and he would walk past the great watching room to go to the chapel so the chapel will be very holy and if the king is holy, then he will have to go to chapel so that’s why they had a chapel close to his quarters.”
By Kiara
“I really enjoyed my fun trip to Hampton Court Palace. The trip to get there took us a bit over an hour. To entertain myself on the way, my friends and I played two fun games of Top Trumps. After that, I read a book for the rest of the journey.
When we got there, I immediately noticed the intricate gates: they were decorated with gorgeous gold patterns. We split into two groups: 5B and 5M. The first thing we saw was the Base Court. The Base Court held a vast amount of space. The walls were made of red bricks. They even had patterns of diamonds using black bricks. There was a stunning fountain, which we examined. It also had gold details added to it. It was beautiful; the shape and design. After some time, a man in fancy black clothes walked up and asked Mrs Deale something. Then, he introduced himself. The man introduced himself as William Thin. He told us some simple things, like if his hands are out wide when he asks a question you shout it out, meanwhile if his hands are close or clasped together, you put your hand up to answer the question. First, we listed some things that could happen if they hired servants who are criminals and/or liars. Then, we found out that the fountain was actually an old wine fountain. We also discovered that this palace wasn’t made for King Henry VIII; it was made ages ago.
After that, he took us to a hallway, where we went up the stairs to the top of the area. He told us to stand on a step, one stair each unless there was no room left; in which case we could stand one step for two people. He explained what the chain of being was, and told us the higher the rank you were, the better. The stairs would now count as ranks, the higher the stair was, the better the rank was. The list from top to bottom went like this: God, King, Queen, Prince, Princess, Earl, Countess, Duke, Duchess, Barren, Baroness, Gentry, Servant, Animal, Earth, and finally (the worst possible one) Devil. William then split us into two groups. He said whichever team shouted out the most right answers the fastest when he stepped onto a step in the chain of being, would get a point. He said nobody remembered Gentry, so that would equal seven points! That’s a lot! I was very excited for the challenge. In the end, the other team only just won, but I didn’t mind. The game was awesome!
Next, he took us into a pretty big room with a bunch of tables and benches. We examined the place, and saw some colossal, detailed works of art. I guessed it was a painting, but he said it was actually a type of art called tapestry; woven by servants with pure gold thread! That was why the picture had a tinge of gold to it! Then, he asked whether we thought it was a room for wealthy people or servants. We assumed it was for wealthy people. Unexpectedly, we were wrong! I was shocked to hear that this place was for servants. He explained this was the dining area. The higher the rank you are -the highest being Gentry- the further up you sat. The best would sit at an especially long table.
William sneaked us into a room, where usually only baroness and baron at the minimum were allowed in. He said he would explain what could happen if you try to move up ranks unfairly. He asked for a lot of volunteers, and briefly this happened:, “X is the baron, but he wants to move up ranks, so he spreads a rumour saying the Earl is talking trash about the king, and then the king beheads the Earl. The Duke becomes the new Earl, the Countess is now widowed, and X is now Duke. The Countess and Duke marry. X still wants to be higher, so he spreads a rumour that the Queen and Duke have been hanging out together. The king then beheads them both, but he still keeps the children. Now, X is the new Earl. But he needs allies. He realises that the Countess needs a wife, so he decided to marry her. But oh dear! He didn’t ask for consent from the king! Then the king beheads them both, so X dies.”. I thought that was a bit gory, and the king isn’t merciful at all!
Then, William left us. We saw a detailed clock, up high. Mrs Deale said it was a lot more important than it looked. We went into a room and saw some interesting things, including an area that provided more information about the clock! Wow! Who knew how many facts a clock held! Then, we saw a brief video of Henry VIII and his wives. We then went into the lunchroom and ate our sandwiches. We also had penguin chocolate. Did you know each penguin chocolate has a joke you can read? This was my joke: Why was the penguin popular?… He was an ice guy. Get the pun? An ice guy, A nice guy. Funny in my opinion. Next, we went into a Tudor kitchen, where we saw a lot of things. The menu said: Beefe (beef spelled wrong) Venisone (venison spelled wrong) Chicken and Pork. I learned how Tudors roasted meat: they poked a stick through it and turned it above a fire. We actually got to see a fire! We also learnt they hung up fish in a cold alley, as they had no fridges. The place had a netted roof, so birds didn’t swoop in and steal the fish. Afterwards, we saw a small garden with different creatures standing on pillars. Then, we went up and saw the Royal Needlework place, and the Royal Tennis Court. Then, we saw the really big gardens. They were magnificent. We also got to play for some time. We then had to go home. I loved the trip. On the journey back, my friend and I played the entire time, before going home.”
By Zoe M
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