This week we enjoyed our class trip to Stirling castle.

When we arrived we met a knight who lived in the 1500s. He was our guide for the morning and he took us on a tour of the castle. We looked at the gate where the portcullis used to be and we also spotted the arrow loops in the walls. We found out how the soldiers defended the castle, they would fire arrows at you, close the drawbridge, they would drop boulders on your head and pour hot sand down your armour to burn your skin. Very gruesome!

Luckily we survived and got into the castle where we saw the Chapel and the Great Hall. The Great Hall was where the King and Queen would entertain people at wonderful banquets.

We learned about some of the jobs people did at the castle. The worst one was the Gong Farmer who had to clean the toilets! They weren’t like our toilets, they were just a hole in the ground with a bit of wood over it. It was a very smelly job!

We then got to hold some of the knight’s Chain Mail armour. It was very heavy! Ehan, Ava, Alysheeya and Joseph all got dressed up in royal clothes. We found out that purple is a royal colour and if you wore it and you weren’t a member of the Royal family you were sent to the dungeons!

Our guide brought out the different weapons that were used, some of these were bows and arrows, swords and shields and axes.

Then it was time for some lunch, we sat in the beautiful gardens as it was such a nice day.

In the afternoon we had some free time to explore the vaults where we dressed up, played instruments and enjoyed the jester’s room. We also got to see the Queen’s bedchambers and her throne room. This is where you would go to see the Queen if you had a complaint and wanted her to fix it.

Soon it was time for the bus! We had a busy and exciting day and some of us even fell asleep on the bus home!

Some interesting facts we learned:

Keira: They only ate with spoons and knives – no forks.

Sara – The spoon was made from animals horns and horns are made from hair.

Grace Q – Not all moats have water – the ones that don’t have water are called dry moats.

Evie – Golf and football was banned in the 1500’s.

Well done to this week’s Dojo winers – Alex, Dionne, Ehan, Fearne and Tiana.