Naworth Castle & Lanercost Priory

On the Thursday before exeat (and the day before their play!) the 7th Years went on a history trip to Cumbria.  We had very kindly been invited to see over Naworth Castle, Alexandra Howard's family home, and combined the trip with a visit to nearby Lanercost Priory and Hadrian's Wall.  The 7th Years were looking into the history of the Scottish marches and especially the effects of the disputes between England and Scotland after Edward I's failed attempt to unite the kingdoms, as well as the rise of the Border Reivers.

Below is their report on the trip as presented in Assembly:-

On Thursday 1^st May the 7^th year went to Lanercost Priory and Alexandra Howard's house which is a castle called Naworth. When we got there we met our guide who was a church warden at the priory church and he showed us around. He told us a bit of the history and then we all got too cold and had to get our coats on. He took us inside and showed us around the church and told us a bit more about it. He showed us some of the statues of people around the church; then we went to the Cloisters to see some of the ruins and he showed us where the most important people were buried. There were a lot of Howards and Dacres buried there. We said our thanks and went and had lunch inside the church which was a first for all of us.

We then set off to the castle. We got there and were greeted by Mrs Howard and her bunny which she was letting out for a run outside. Then Mr Howard arrived. We looked around the outside and he told us why the Castle was built there. We then went in and looked around the house and he told us a story that once he was in a room with his sister and his friend when suddenly all went silent and then they all went, 'Did you hear that?' and they all heard the same thing; children sobbing upstairs. They then went upstairs and no one was there.

Then he showed us some of the Howard's coats of arms and some of the rooms. We also went up on to the roof. After we looked around we had a delicious tea with cake, sandwiches and we were all so full we didn't need supper when we got back. On the way back we took the scenic route across Hadrian's Wall. We also stopped off at Corbridge and saw the Pele tower there. We would like to thank Mr Peel for organising the trip, Matey Suzanne for coming and the Howards and Mr Lee for inviting us.

Ffion Thompson