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Carew Manor

Teacher Resources

The aim of this page is to provide a variety of teaching resources, ideas and worksheet templates. Most of the downloadable resources are based around the work done on Nicolas Carew and the Tudors (although there will inevitably be cross-over appeal into other historical time periods) and while not aimed at a specific Key Stage, the aim of the SAVVY Theatre Company project was to focus primarily on work within the SEN classroom.
 
In addition to the Carew Manor/Tudor-based resources an ‘Accessing Your Heritage’ handbook is available to download opposite with ideas on how to unlock history in the classroom through drama-based activities.
Tudor Fruit Salad Game
 
You will need.
 
  • a copy of the Tudor Fruit Salad Cards
  • chairs for every participant (except one)
  • CD/music (optional)
  • Set out the chairs in a circle.
 
  1. Cast each participant as a PEASANT, NOBLEMAN (or WOMAN) or member of the CLERGY. (This can also be done by choosing a random card.)
  2. Ask everyone to sit on a chair with one person in the middle.
  3. The person in the middle can either call out at random either PEASANT, NOBLEMAN or CLERGY (it doesn’t matter what character they are actually cast as). Whichever character is called, those participants must swap chairs while whoever is in the middle must then try and find a spare chair.   (N.B. You can add an extra element by assigning a specific movement to each character as they swap chairs, such as hunched over for a peasant, slow and steady for the clergy and marching for the nobleman.)
  4. Once the group is comfortable with this you can add an additional TUDOR DANCE rule.
  5. Tell the person in the centre of the circle that in addition to PEASANT, NOBLEMAN or CLERGY, they can also call out TUDOR DANCING!
 
Should they do that, music will be played and everyone must find a partner and do some Tudor Dancing until the music stops and they find a chair again.  (N.B. The Tudor Dancing can be as simple as having partners put their right palms together and circling each other until the music stops. Alternatively have fun with any music the group likes.)
Tudor Word Searches
 
During Tudor times, people were sent to the Tower of London for a variety of reasons:
 
Click the links below to download some Tudor WORD SEARCH puzzles.
 
REASONS FOR BEING SENT TO THE TOWER WORD SEARCH
 
TUDOR MONARCHS WORD SEARCH
 
The following pdf documents contain photographs of Nicholas Carew & the Manor and Henry VIII & his wives. Aside from general display purposes, they can also be used as visual clues for the word search puzzles.
 
NICHOLAS CAREW & THE MANOR
 
HENRY VIII & HIS WIVES
 
The Scroll
 
One of the first Carew’s held the important title of ‘Keeper of the Privy Seal’. Any declaration by the King had to have an official stamp or ‘seal’ on it – from advancing a nobleman’s estate to signing his death warrant.
 
The scroll image available to download HERE could be used for a number of written activities.
 
  • As a DEATH WARRANT declaring the reasons and means for putting the person to death. (See the film link above for more ideas.)
  • A DIARY containing the final words of a condemned person on their final night in the Tower.
  • A DECLARATION from the King instigating new laws. (If you were King for a day, what would you do to make the country better … or worse? Henry VIII closed the monasteries and confiscated their wealth for himself – this led to a revolt in the North of England known as ‘The Pilgrimage of the Grace’.)
  • A MAP showing the layout of Carew Manor (including the underground cellars and sightings of some of its ghosts).
 
 
Wink Murder
 
This classic game can have many historical contexts, from the random killings of the ‘sweating sickness’ to re-enacting suspicions at court. (For example, the Detective could be Henry VIII and the murderer a spy from the Catholic Church!)
 
In order to play the game it is not essential that everyone in the group can wink. As a group you could decide on a different signal which the chosen ‘murderer’ uses to kill people in the circle however whatever you choose it must be something relatively sneaky.
 
  1. You need to choose a detective who is sent out of the room.
  2. Get the rest of the group into a circle (either sitting or standing) and ask them to close their eyes while you choose the murderer (by tapping someone on the shoulder).
  3. Explain to the group that if they get winked at by the murderer (or see the chosen signal) then they must ‘die’ as melodramatically as they like. They might even like to do so in slow-motion.
  4. Invite the detective back into the centre of the circle. It is their job to try and guess who the murder is before everyone is killed. The detective should be given 3 guesses.  (N.B. It’s vital that the detective is told to rotate when they take their place in the centre of the circle, so that the murderer has a chance to deliver their signal when the detective’s back is turned. Without this rule the game can fail, as the murderer never gets a chance to give their signal without being immediately spotted by the detective.)
  5. While the detective is in the centre of the circle, the murderer begins to subtly kill people using the agreed signal.
 
Play the game a few times, as it may take a while for the group to get the hang of it if they have never played before.
 
 
Music & Poetry
 
The pupils at Carew Manor and Wandle Valley school spent time working with music producer Raphael Zak on discovering Tudor music and creating their own ‘modern’ interpretations of the style.
 
Their theme was the feelings of those taking part in The Pilgrimage of the Grace, marching to London to confront the King on his break with Rome and the dismantling of their local monasteries.
 
Below are mp3 links to their music that can be used for inspiration or use in your own lessons.
Poetry at the time was not at all considered ‘girly’ or ‘wimpy’. Quite the contrary, many noblemen were accomplished poets and prized for their skill. Henry VIII himself composed the well-known ‘Greensleeves’ and the adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh was a renowned poet (in fact, his poem ‘The Lie’ written while imprisoned in the Tower of London has the rhythm of a modern rap.)
 
Link to “The Lie”
 
Thomas Wyatt was also another poet of the day (he was actually accused of committing
adultery with Anne Boleyn but unlike the others who were accused and lost their heads, he managed to escape the charge).
 
Link to “My Lute Awake”
 
Further information Tudor poetry (including Thomas Wyatt and Sir Walter Raleigh) can be found at:
www.poemhunter.com
A Jousting Tournament
 
Jousting as a sport was as big as football is today – although far more dangerous! Nicholas Carew and Henry VIII were jousting buddies in their youth and taking part in tournaments provided great prestige at court.
 
1. Watch the jousting film made by Wandle Valley and Carew Manor pupils.
2. Discuss the sort of characters that might be found at a jousting tournament.
    Characters/groups for the jousting scene can include:
    • The King and his Queen
    • Ladies-in-Waiting (who would tie their ‘colours’ (ribbons) onto the knights lances for luck)
    • Knights and their Squires
    • The Commentator (like in a modern sports match)
    • Flag ‘dropper’ or person who starts the joust
    • A physician (it was a dangerous sport after all and even medical treatments were very different         then) *
    • A group of Gamblers
    • Vendors selling a variety of goods from souvenirs to food
 
* In 1535 Henry VIII had a very serious jousting injury that never fully healed. Many blame this injury for his mood swings and bad temper in later life.
 
3. Get each group/character to develop a repeatable line of dialogue and movement. For example, the vendors could be waiving their goods in the air and saying ‘Come and get it’. The Ladies-in-Waiting could be fanning themselves while giggling or calling out to their favourite knights etc…
4. Present these actions/sounds one at a time and then simultaneously around the room, building up the soundscape of action.
5. Freeze the action and explain that the King and Queen are going to arrive. When they do everyone     must stop and bow or curtsey.
6. Stage the scene by place some chairs out for the King and Queen, put the Knights who are jousting at either end of the ‘field’ and scatter the other various groups/characters around the edges.
7. Repeat the actions and sounds as above until the action is FROZEN (possibly with a fanfare or a shout of ‘Ladies & Gentlemen, I give you … the King’).
8. Encourage everyone to bow as the King and Queen enter and sit. (The King might even like to say a few words about the upcoming joust.)
9. Introduce the Knights (who enter and perform their knightly salutes and entrances as developed above.)
10. Now explain that the joust will commence, but in SLOW MOTION.
11. Practise the movements and sounds of both the knights on horses coming together and the crowd cheering in slow motion a few times first (you might also like to decide in advance which knight will win the joust), before putting it all together.
      You might even like to do a close up super-slow replay of the knightly crash and victory!
 
Perhaps one of the best films to watch for an indication of the whole sporting importance of the joust is ‘A Knights Tale’ starring Heath Ledger (DVD certificate PG).
Staging A Safe Fight Scene
 
Sword fighting and stage combat is a carefully choreographed discipline requiring many hours rehearsal. However following guidelines will help to create a satisfying fight sequence while keeping everyone safe.

Firstly explain that ‘stage fighting’ is all about safety – it must be pretend for the actor to be able to do it night after night, show after show!
 
  1. Keep the ‘actors’ on opposite sides of the room. (Only use two ‘actors’ at a time.)
  2. Tell them that they each get three moves that will be repeated over and over.
  3. These moves can either be performed by one actor after the other or with each actor moving simultaneously.
  4. Tell them to make their moves BIG and in SLOW MOTION (the slower the better).  Explain also that it’s ‘stage fighting’ – if they move too fast, the audience will not be able to see what’s going on.
  5. Once they have practised a couple of times, get them moving in a large circle around the edge of the room – repeating their fight sequence as they go.
  6. This fight can then be underscored with music, can build in speed with each sequence or could have sound effects made by the rest of the class.
 
N.B. If building in speed remind them to keep their distance from each other and choreograph a moment when the action will suddenly FREEZE.
At no point should pupils make actual contact with their opponent.
 
Francis Carew’s Elizabethan Garden
 
Using the description below, ask pupils to physically create Francis Carew’s garden. 
 
“We made a four mile detour via Beddington in order to see a most lovely garden belonging to a nobleman called Francis Carew. A little river runs through the middle of this garden, so crystal clear that you see the water plants beneath the surface. A thing of interest is the oval fish pond enclosed by trim hedges. The garden contains a beautiful square shaped rock, sheltered on all sides and very cleverly contrived: the stream flows right through it and washes all around. In the stream one can see a number of different representations: the best of these is Polyphome playing on his pipe, surrounded by all kinds of animals. There is also a Hydra out of whose many heads the water gushes The garden also contained orange trees that were covered by a removable wooden shed, or sheds, each autumn and heated with stoves over the winter to keep the frost at bay.”
They can use their bodies and voices, but you might also like to provide other objects such as materials and musical instruments.
 
Features to explore can include:
  • the crystal clear river running through the middle with water plants
  • an oval fish pond enclosed by trim hedges
  • a square shaped rock – cleverly contrived – in the centre of the stream
  • Polyphome playing on his pipe and surrounded by all kinds of animals
  • a Hydra (see photograph below)
  • orange trees
 
Ask pupils to describe how they think people might have felt as they encountered parts of this garden.  Was it a feeling of serenity or wonder?
Ask them to recreate the garden at midnight – does it take on a different feel? Does it come to life? If so, who lives in the garden when no one is looking … ?!
Magazine Covers & Facebook Template
 
CLICK HERE to go to a fantastic site in which you can design and print your own historical magazine covers.  Here’s our Carew Manor versions:
 
NICHOLAS CAREW – TIME MAGAZINE PDF
 
HENRY VIII – VALENTINE MAGAZINE PDF
 
ANNE BOLEYN – VOGUE PDF
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH – NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
 
JOUSTING SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
 
A Facebook profile for Henry VIII is also available to download below for pupils to speculate on who his friends might be, what his wives might write on his wall and what his current status is.
 
FACEBOOK PROFILE PDF
 
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