Year 4 trip to Canterbury Cathedral and Archives 18.1.2019

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Recount by Sophie 
On the eighteenth of January 2019, Year 4 went on a trip to Canterbury Cathedral. We were all very excited that we would be seeing the Cathedral and the Archives! The ride on the minibus was very long and tiring but we eventually got there. The Cathedral was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen in my whole life - apart from another beautiful Cathedral that I’ve seen in Wells.

When we stepped inside the Cathedral the sight of stained glass windows made me feel as if I had been blinded. We firstly went to a huge room filled with chairs, I think it was called the Nave. After that, we were told some facts about a huge candle in the centre of the room. We found out that it was replaced every year! After that, we went through a huge doorway which led us to a library. We were told to sit down at a huge table so that we could learn more about Dr John Bargrave's collection.

HERE ARE SOME FUN FACTS:

  1. John Bargrave lived in Canterbury and died in Canterbury.
  2. His collection had many, mysterious objects such as body parts. I’m pretty sure he could've gone totally CRAZY and put in a real finger!!
  3. He had a really cute chameleon but it died because the temperature was wrong.

At the table, we watched a really cool video and found out about more things in John Bargrave's cabinet. After that, we went down a really tall spiral staircase and through a large door that lead us into the ARCHIVES!

When we walked into the Archives, it was extremely dark and silent until someone found the light-switch and turned on the lights. We were taken through the middle of the Archives and were shown two tables (one with unicorns and the other with serpents).

After that, it was time for lunch; we all went to the lunch room. After lunch we went to our final activity before the tour. This activity was making quills or stained glass windows. I decorated a beautiful art piece showing a stained glass window. It was a lot of fun and we seemed to enjoy it, but eventually we had to get ready for our 1-hour long tour.

I was really excited though some children wanted to carry on with the fun activities. On the tour we learned that the top of a head had once been in the Cathedral. We even got a chance to crawl up some stairs and find out about where people were buried and why. There were real graves in the tombs! 

My favourite part of the whole trip other than decorating stain glass windows was laying on stone steps and looking at a huge cross at the very top of the Cathedral. I personally thought that the cross was tiny but then we were told that it was actually about 2 metres long. If I had taken a ruler and measured it from where I had been, it would've looked only 3 centimetres long!

It was a really fantastic trip! I can’t wait for another one.