On Tuesday the 19th of January we went on a school trip to Hexham Old Jail to learn more about life in the Tudor times. It was really scary! It was super cold and windy.
We were split into two groups. One group went to the Old Jail and the other group stayed at Moothall to dress up and learn how to dance in the Tudor times. Then after a yummy lunch we swapped over.
The jail was a defensible building with small windows that were designed so that people couldn’t escape or break in! The building is 684 years old! It was the first purpose built jail in the country! If you tried to break in, soldiers would throw stones from the top of the jail on intruders.
When we went to Hexham Old Jail we dressed up in Tudor clothes. The girls wore dresses and the boys wore waistcoats and feather hats. Tudor dresses were very long and detailed. The Tudors liked to show off.
This is Sir Reginald Carnaby and we acted out a real life jailbreak of December 1538 in the Old Jail. Sir Reginald Carnaby was an important man because he was in charge of Hexham Old Jail when it was in use. At the time of the jailbreak Sir Reginald Carnaby was away in the countryside because he didn’t want to catch the plague.
Finally we made pomanders that were used to stop people from catching the plague. The Tudors believed that bad smells gave you the plague so people made pomanders out of oranges and cloves. We learnt that rats and fleas were responsible for the spreading of the plague! We even saw a plague doctor’s mask!
We all had an awesome time, over to you now class 8!
Written by the children of class 7.
