Y3 Trip to Highclere Castle
13.1.15
We got on the bus and we talked a LOT! We got off and had our snack. Then we walked to
Highclere Castle. We went inside and the lady showed us where to put our coats. We split
into two groups to visit different parts of Highclere Castle and to do different activities.
Highclere Castle
In the war Highclere Castle was a hospital for
wounded soldiers. Did you know Highclere
Castle owns 6000 acres? The red and blue
flag represents the Carnarvon family who
own Highclere Castle. So if you see a jockey
with a red and blue helmet you know the
horse belongs to Highclere Castle.
The castle was originally Highclere House
and it was re-designed in 1842 to make it
into a castle by the same man that made Big
Ben. It now has pretty sandstone castle walls
and pointy sharp turrets as well as the family
crest and logo above the door.
If you look carefully you can see the original
brick ‘House’ – and the cream stones were
later added to make Highclere House into
Highclere Castle.
The grounds
The TV series Downtown Abbey is filmed at
Highclere Castle. We sat on the bench that
Lady Mary has sat on in the series.
The Monks’ Garden
The monks were the servants who used to
work in the garden. The monks job was to
look after the garden and pick vegetables for
the Bishop.
The Secret Garden
The people who own the Secret Garden
named it after a story and a film called the
Secret Garden. Because the Secret Garden
was filmed in that part of the garden they
named it the Secret Garden. There is also a
bench left from filming.
Cedar trees
The cedar trees are shaped like an umbrella.
Lord Carnarvon was rewarded with 400
cedar trees when he found Tutenkahmun’s
tomb and they are still growing over the
grounds.
Lord Carnarvon (5th Earl of Carnarvon)
Fast cars: Lord Carnarvon loved cars and he
kept on having accidents.
How Lord Carnarvon died: he had a
mosquito bite on his cheek while he was out
in Egypt and shaved the top off it. He then
got an infection and died.
Egypt: Lord Carnarvon and his friend Howard
Carter adored Egypt. They had hundreds of
adventures looking for treasure.
Tutankhamun: Lord Carnarvon didn’t have
much money left and he had to rely on his
friend Carter to help him. Carter pleaded
Lord Carnarvon to go back to Egypt for one
last try in 1922. This time he found the
entrance to the tomb of Tutankhamun. All
he had to do now was to wait for Lord
Carnarvon to travel out to Egypt so they
could explore the tomb together.
The Egyptian Exhibition
First we saw Lady Irtyru’s coffin and
Mummy’s wrappings (real ones!). Next we
went to an amazing pyramid room. It was
dark and we had candles. We looked inside
the ‘pyramid’ using lots of little flaps and we
saw lots of treasure inside. We also saw
Tutankhamun’s coffin – it had four layers!
We saw statues of Howard Carter and the 5th
Earl of Carnarvon. Finally we went into a
room where we saw all about Tutankhamun
from when he was a boy up to when he died
and it was amazing.
We were not allowed to take any photos in
there though.
Hands-on Activities
We dressed up as (male and female!) Pharaohs.
We also sketched hieroglyphic symbols and
stamped our names using hieroglyphic stamps
too. Next we copied a sculpture of a
sarcophagus. We touched the sculpture and
made pyramids. Children also rubbed over a
textured picture of an Egyptian with the side of
a crayon. A variety of books and puzzle books
and ornaments were also there for us to look at.
We wore jewellery and wigs and carried sticks
as well as beautiful clothing when we dressed
up as Egyptians.
Our favourite things
Some of our favourite things are the Curse of Tutankhamen’s Tomb, the gold finger ring
with a Scarab Beetle on and exploring the replica Tutankhamen’s tomb because it was
pretty and we got to have candle lights.
By Year 3