We had a very exciting school trip to West Stow Anglo-Saxon village today. As we left behind a grey, drizzly and slightly snowy St Albans, we were hopeful that Suffolk would have more to offer. We were in luck! We enjoyed glorious blue skies and even some sunshine for most of the day. The snow in Suffolk started just as we were leaving – what perfect timing!
Our time at West Stow began with a visit to the village itself where we got to explore several experimental buildings. Due to the Saxons building with wood, it’s hard to know quite how they would have been as there is very limited evidence for the archaeologists to base their ideas on. Therefore, West Stow archaeologists have had to use more of a ‘trial and error’ method to create buildings that are as close to those in Anglo-Saxon times as possible. We explored:
- craft building
- farmers house
- hall building
- living house
- oldest house
- sunken house
- weaving house
- workshop
Our leader, Ben, then explained to us all about how the Anglo-Saxons lived. We got to ask lots of questions! A particularly memorable moment was when we visited their two pigs – Æppel (Apple) and Æcern (Acorn).
After lunch, we headed to the museum where we handled artefacts and some of us even dressed up – we think we’re rather convincing Anglo-Saxons! In small groups, we had an artefact and an information card which we used to help us explain to the rest of the class what our artefact was and what is was used for.
To finish the day, we had a play in the playground – a perfect way to tire us out for the coach journey back to school!
Have a look at the fun we got up to:
