Castle Acre and Iceni Iron Age Village

[Scroll down for earlier posts about the rest of the end-of-term trip, including York]. From York, it was about 7 hours by bus back to Herstmonceux. To break up the trip, we stopped at Castle Acre and the Iceni Iron Age Village. First up was Castle Acre Castle, the most dilapidated English Heritage-managed site I’ve ever seen but interesting and with great views to the surrounding area. A short walk away was Castle Acre Priory, another religious house ruined by, of course, King Henry VIII.

the castle

view from the castle 

in the village centre

the priory

the priory

From Castle Acre, we drove about 30 minutes to Iceni Iron Age Village. This was a very strange site, and none of us could quite decide what to make of it. It’s privately owned and feels very abandoned/isolated; it’s mostly just a small ring of reconstructed Iceni (a native British tribe, famous for one of its leaders, Boudicca) buildings, with very unnerving mannequins lurking in the shadows!

fake enemy heads impaled on spikes over the village bridge

the Iron Age village

I'm writing this post from London! For current posts about what my mom and I are up to in London, click here: http://www.thistleshamrockrose2011.blogspot.co.uk/.  Meanwhile, I'll be doing double posts for the next few days on this blog (Hanna at Herstmonceux) until I'm caught up.

York

[Scroll down for posts on Chester, Conwy, Caernarfon, Much Wenlock, and Wroxeter]. One of the first things we did upon arriving in York was to walk the city walls together. This was really fun and a great way to see the extent of the city. Afterwards, like the other nights of our trip, most of us ate dinner together with Dr. Scott and Sue, our excavation supervisor.

The next began with one of my favourite things about York: the stunning cathedral, York Minster. We had a guided tour and then some time to look around. Later in the day, I went back with one of my friends to attend the Choral Evensong service before dinner.

We also saw Clifford’s Tower and the Jorvik Viking Museum. Jorvik was I think the most unique museum I’ve visited; it’s like an amusement park ride through history. You’re in suspended six-person carts that travel through a Viking village, based on the extensive archaeological excavations done to unearth the Viking history of York. After the ride there’s a more “normal museum” section displaying finds from the excavations, with great audiovisual components and really interesting osteo-pathology(?) sections (in other words, skeletons displayed with explanations of how their bones can show us different health problems and injuries they had).

model of Clifford's Tower

classmates at the top of Clifford's Tower, York Minster in background

looking down into the centre of Clifford's Tower

After a walk with some friends to the gardens surrounding the Museum of York, a visit to the Railway Museum, and Evensong, all 13 of us met up for a final dinner together, since it was the last night of our trip. It was a great way to end our field school experience and just have fun together one more time.

spotted while walking around York

I thought this was awesome!

Railway Museum

I'm writing this post from London! For current posts about what my mom and I are up to in London, click here: http://www.thistleshamrockrose2011.blogspot.co.uk/. Meanwhile, I'll be doing double posts on this blog (Hanna at Herstmonceux) for the next few days until I'm caught up.

Chester

After Conwy (scroll down for earlier posts on Conwy, Caernarfon, Much Wenlock, and Wroxeter), we left Wales for Chester, back on the English side of the border. We went to the Parish Church of St. John the Baptist and some associated ruins, and also saw part of a Roman amphitheatre found in the town centre. After a walk through the Roman Gardens, we visited the Grosvenor (pronounced “GROVE-nur”, against my common sense) Museum, which documents the history of Chester. I thought it was well-done for a city museum, with some unusual features, like: a) a big exhibit of Roman gravestones, and b) a 3-story Victorian house with recreated period rooms.

river bordering the town

ruins at the Parish Church of St. John the Baptist

ruins at the Parish Church of St. John the Baptist 

Parish Church of St. John the Baptist

Parish Church of St. John the Baptist

Roman amphitheatre

model of the Roman amphitheatre

mock Roman mosaic (celebrating QEII's Golden Jubilee) in the Roman Gardens

Roman Gardens

Roman gravestones in the Grosvenor museum

I'm writing this post from London! For current posts about what my mom and I are up to in London, click here: http://www.thistleshamrockrose2011.blogspot.co.uk/. Meanwhile, I'll be doing double posts on this blog (Hanna at Herstmonceux) for the next few days until I'm caught up.

Conwy

view from the town wall

On day 2, we set out for another Welsh castle town: Conwy (scroll down for previous posts on Caernarfon, Much Wenlock, and Wroxeter). I liked this town much better, and enjoyed spending some free time there. I set out along the Wall Walk, a path atop the town’s medieval walls with some great views.

After the walls, we all visited Conwy Castle together. This was another one of Edward I’s Welsh castle strongholds. It was a bit more manageable than Caernarfon but still very large, with many passageways and towers to explore.

view of the harbour from the castle

I'm writing this post from London! For current posts about what my mom and I are up to in London, click here: http://www.thistleshamrockrose2011.blogspot.co.uk/. Meanwhile, I'll be doing double posts on this blog (Hanna at Herstmonceux) for the next few days until I'm caught up.

Caernarfon

 

After Wroxeter and Much Wenlock (scroll down to posts below), we reached Caernarfon (in Wales), after a spectacular drive through part of the Snowdonian mountains. It’s a very small town and not the most friendly somehow, but we didn’t have any problems. Welsh identity seemed very strong here, and it was really cool to see Welsh on all the signs!

3 friends and I took a walk along the long path that follows the water’s edge. Caernarfon is right on the water, facing across the straight to Anglesey. It was beautiful!

The next day, we visited Caernarfon Castle, one of several strongholds built by the English king Edward I in the 1280s in his successful attempt to subdue Welsh resistance to English rule. It was incredibly large and labyrinthine- even with almost 2 hours of time to visit, it proved impossible to follow every stairway and find every single room.

We also saw the platform where Prince Charles was given the title “Prince of Wales” in 1969.

I'm writing this post from London! For current posts about what my mom and I are up to in London, click here: http://www.thistleshamrockrose2011.blogspot.co.uk/. Meanwhile, I'll be doing double posts on this blog (Hanna at Herstmonceux) for the next few days until I'm caught up.