On Thursday 11th June Form 1 pupils visited Buckfast Abbey; a medieval abbey on the southern edge of Dartmoor .jpg)
National Park. This was a combined Religious Studies and History trip.
First we watched a video about the history of the abbey and the monks who live there. The abbey was built in the 14th century but was demolished by Henry VIII in 1538.
When some French monks came over to the site in 1882 they decided to rebuild the abbey using the foundations from medieval times.
We went to the education centre on the site and got busy with some interactive activities, including using a hoist to pull up a 41kg stone.
We also tried on a hood that a monk would wear. We had to try and rebuild different parts of the abbey using scaled down pieces of foam and wood, such as an arch, the frame for a stained glass window and a spiral staircase. We also designed a mosaic, tile floor and a stained glass window and saw some of the renowned Buckfast bees.
Later we interviewed a monk who told us about his daily routine and what life is like as a monk. Everyone learnt something that they did not know about being a monk and what monks do. We were also told about St. Benedict and how he proposed the rules which are followed by hundreds of Benedictine abbeys worldwide.
We then visited the medieval guest house where we found out how people in medieval times thought that the black death could be transmitted and cured; by sniffing herbs or by going to see a monk. After a talk we played a game to show us how quickly the plague spread throughout Europe, killing 1 in 3 people.
We saw this demonstrated when someone had the plague by picking beans out of a bag and if they had a black dot on them it meant that they had the black death.
The day was very interesting and everyone learnt something that they can take home with them and use in the future (in your history exams Form 1!!!). Thank you to Mr Rogers, Mr Jeggo and Mrs Blundell for taking everyone on the trip.
See photos and read the full report on the college website.