Recreating life in the 1600s

Recreating life in the 1600s

Today we welcomed members of the English Civil War Society in to school to talk to Year 8 students about life in the seventeenth century.

They appeared in full costume and had a willing volunteer in Asia S to demonstrate how the full military outfit was worn. They then took students through the 30+ steps required to fire a musket (without actually firing!)

Student dressed in traditional civil war outfitCommenting, Tilly Butler and Jessie Stolworthy said, “It was really interesting to be able to handle the different objects from the seventeenth century that the visitors passed around, including a boot and weaponry. We liked to see how long it took to fire the musket and to find out children would have had beer for breakfast. It also helped to see the different maps and newspaper articles from the 1640s, which they explained needed to be read as propaganda.”

The Society’s representatives also took students through the events that will be running in Bruton in May 2019 to mark the 400th anniversary of Hugh Sexey’s death. More information on Hugh Sexey and his relationship to our school can be read in the school history pages here.

The English Civil War Society has been active for over 30 years, seeking to recreate seventeenth century military and civil life in an authentic way.