Hall Place Tudor Workshop – 10th May 2007 by Megan Claridge aged 10

As we walked into Hall Place we met two ladies called Annie and Helen.  Annie was dressed like a rich lady.  Helen was dressed like a poor person.  First Annie talked about how the rich people lived.  She said that boys dressed as girls until they were six years old.  No-one wore knickers or pants.  If you were poor you would have worn the same clothes for five years.  The good thing was that they had laces so they could tighten up or loosen their clothes to fit.  They had a chemise.  A chemise was a long vest that was not taken off so that it could be used at night time.  Most poor boys wore jerkins.  A jerkin was a sleeveless jacket.  Both sexes wore cowpat hats.  Cowpat hats were brown hats folded in places.  It got its name because they look like a cowpat.  If you were rich you wore padding to make you look more powerful.  Men wore hose which were pretty much tights.  Men wore them because they showed off their calf muscles.  They also wore big, puffy breeches (shorts).  Girls wore bum rolls to make their bottoms look bigger.  They also wore a farthingale (a caged petticoat) and a corset to give them a slimmer waist.  All women wore long skirts to cover their ankles.  They covered their ankles because it was considered sexy to show them. The rich people wore jewels and they had little pots with herbs in.  They put them around their neck and it was supposed to stop them from smelling bad things.  They also wore ruffles, which were very fashionable.  All the women wore hats to hide their nits:  Also to make sure no-one else caught her nits!

Next Annie talked to us about the poor people’s homes.  The poor people used chopped trees for wattle and used daub on the walls (clay, straw and poo).  They slept on straw and had a fireplace in the centre of their one roomed house.  If you were rich you had big rooms with windows, carvings and wall hangings.  Your house would have been made of glass and stone and you would have used slate and bricks.  All of the materials were re-used from other buildings and the Dissolution of the Monasteries. 

After that, we dressed up like rich and poor Tudors.  I dressed like a rich girl.  Then we did a dance in our outfits and then had our photos taken.  We then said goodbye to Annie and hello again to Helen.

Helen told us what rich and poor people ate.  Rich people ate loads of food!  Sometimes, they ate 24 courses!  Most of it was meat.  They had pork, chicken, lamb, duck, pigeon, venison, swan and the all time favourite, peacock.  Salad was very fashionable.  All the rich people ate white bread and could afford puddings.  There was no chocolate.  There weren’t potatoes either!  They were given to Elizabeth I (Henry VIII’s daughter), but were not eaten in Tudor times.  They were said to be poisonous.  Potatoes were brought in by Sir Walter Raleigh.  Pepper was another food for rich people only.  At one time, pepper was more expensive than gold!  On the other hand, the poor people would eat Humble Pie which had lots of gristle from meat and possibly full of bones!  They also had lots of brown bread and pottage.  Pottage is made with oats and vegetables cooked in beer.  The vegetables they would have had would be leek, garlic, onion, peas, sprouts, broccoli, cabbage and carrots, but not as we know them today.  The carrots that they had would have been purple!  The Dutch introduced orange carrots later.  Sheep and goats provided them with milk until they realised that cows made more!  Their pottage beer was not beer, but non-alcoholic ale.  They used it for cooking.  Alcoholic beer was used for drinking, but they could only afford a bit.  Perry was a drink made with pears.  Mead was a drink made with honey.  They did not drink water because it was a cause of disease. 

Next we looked at replica goods from the period with Helen.  A pestle and mortar used to be called a spice crusher.  Helen told us that a saucepan used to be called a pipkin.  A frying pan used to be called a fryer.  Helen showed us an inkwell and quill.  It had a sand shaker to dry the writing.  It dries by shaking some sand on to the writing.  The sand would absorb the ink and dry the ink.

Next we made our own beeswax candle.  You take your wick, place it on the long end of your bees wax and carefully just roll the bees wax until it has formed a candle.

Tudors were dirty and there was lots of disease.  They would wee in a corner and pretend it wasn’t them:  Even on the church floor!  They had pots to week in too.  It would be glazed if you were rich.  If you were rich your clothes were washed in wee.  It contains ammonia that bleaches things.  All of the Tudors had lice, fleas and tics.  They used to blow their noses on their hands and then wipe their hands on their clothes!  At rich people’s feasts, you had to take the food in front of you.  In the middle of a feast you could not scratch and had to eat everything on your plate.  After a meal you were allowed to burp to show you enjoyed your meal.  You had to walk out of a room backwards as a sign of respect.  You also had to walk out of the room to pass wind.  If you had any, you could give your bones to the beast (in other words, a dog).  A gaol was called a poke. 

We did worksheets and walked around the garden.

Hall Place Tudor Workshop – 10th May 2007 by Henry Scott aged 8

We met two ladies who were dressed like rich and poor people.  The rich lady, called Annie, talked to us about rich people.  All boys dressed as girls until they were six.  No-one wore pants or knickers.  Poor people wore their clothes for five years.  Boys and girls wore a chemise (also a nightie at bedtime) which was a long vest.  Boys wore sleeveless jackets called jerkins, and both boys and girls wore cowpat hats.  Rich people wore lots of padding to make them look strong.  Men wore hose (tights) to show their calf muscles, and breeches (puffy shorts).  Girls wore a bum roll.  Girls couldn’t show their ankles.  They had nits and they smelt. 

The poor people chopped trees for wattle and used daub (clay, straw and poo).  They slept on straw and had a fireplace in the middle of their 1 room home.  If you were a rich person, you had big rooms with windows. 

If they were rich this is what they would have eaten; they would eat mainly meat (pig, lamb and swan).  Only rich people had white bread.  There wasn’t any chocolate.  Poor people only had brown bread. 

They weed in church if they had to!