Class visit to Athenry Heritage Centre
Today we went to Athenry to learn more about how the town developed as a market town. We dressed up in the type of clothes that were worn by the Normans at the time. We learned about why the Normans came to Athenry and we also learned more about Strongbow. At the end of the tour we had time to practise our archery skills!
There are lots of pictures here from our visit.
The heritage centre
On Wednesday the 11th of February we went to the heritage centre on a school tour because we are learning about the Normans. Some of our parents dropped us in and picked us back up again.
We did archery, we dressed up in Norman costumes and Nathan D was King of Leinster, Ian was Henry the second, Darren was Robbin hood, the rest of the boys were knights and the girls were all ladies of the castle.
The castle that the Normans built is still standing in Athenry. We held their swords, shields, long bows, bow arrows and we wore their helmets and chainmail and they were really heavy.
The Normans built a wall around athenry to protect them. People came from other countries for better freedom but the wall that they built didn’t just keep enemies out, it also kept people in. Anyone who trespassed got killed.
Doctors did not know how to cure sick people but they made up fake cures just to make money. When people had the plague doctors gave them bits of pearls and rocks which were very sharp. The doctors said that it would stop you from dying from the plague. They were right because the plague did not kill them the crunched stone and pearl ripped their insides so they died. The names of our tour guides were Thomas, Mary and Jonathon.
There is a chamber where people who trespassed on Norman lands were killed in there and their heads were cut off by people who were not professionals and they were put on top of the castle that they had. There was a strong soldier called Strongbow and he got his name because he was not only strong he was really good at firing bown arrows and that is how he got his name. Strongbow was the son of the king of Leinster.
Back in the Norman times there were no surnames so if you worked as a blacksmith your surname would be smith. There was a man and his name was Pearce De Birmingham which means Pearce from Birmingham. He kept his surname because it sounded posh. After lunch we were playing with toy swords.
The names of the teams for archery were called The Killers and The Stormin Normans. The killers won.
By: Ian O’ Shea and Nathan Hansberry.
Our trip to Athenry Heritage Centre.
On the 11 of February 3rd and 4th class went to the Heritage Centre. We went to the heritage because we wanted to learn about our town in the past. We got to dress up in costumes while we there. Nathan was the King of Leinster and Ian was Henry the second. We learned about the walls of Athenry and the clothes that they wore back then. We learned a lot about our town. We went into the market room where we saw all the different types of things that were sold. Our tour guide knew a lot about the history of Athenry. Thomas showed us a two hand sword and everyone got to hold it. We got changed out of the costumes and then we had 10 minutes for lunch. Then we got our coats and went outside. Afterwards we did some archery. We played two rounds of archery. We were divided into two teams. The Killers and The Stormin Normans. The Killers won twice in a row.
By Megan and Jessica Cunningham .
posted by St. Oliver Plunkett's National School @ 2:03 PM
