Hampton Court Palace

Zachary P

“On the trip to Hampton Court Palace, we saw remnants of many religious changes during the Tudor Period. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Henry VIII's chief minister at the time, designed the palace. A few years after construction was finished, the palace was given to the king to regain his favour. However, this was not enough, and Thomas Wolsey had all his roles taken away from him.

We walked around the palace and into the many rooms, such as the Great Hall, which had priceless tapestries of the story of Abraham. These tapestries cost as much as a battleship at the time, composed almost entirely of gold and silver thread. We also saw the waiting room, where people at the time would wait days just to speak to the king or queen. We learned about how the people in this room would change as the religion and politics of the country changed. In different circumstances, it would be fully Catholic, fully Protestant, or sometimes a mixture, with a few Spanish people added too.

We then saw the kitchens, where there was one kitchen per type of food. There were specific places where meat would be roasted, bread would be baked, and confectionery would be made. The people who were making these foods were very well fed. It was a fantastic day!”

Merryn M

“Last month, Year 8 visited the world famous Hampton Court Palace, an old Tudor royal residence. We spent the day exploring the palace that hosted many monarchs, including King Henry VIII and his many wives. We explored the palace in two tours: one about how different religions had impacted the construction of this building and the other viewed the great kitchens where huge meals for kings, queens, guests and servants (often over six hundred people at a time) were made.

We learned about many aspects of the construction of Hampton Court Palace and how they were designed to display the power and might of the king. These included lavishly decorated rooms with stained glass windows, tapestries that could buy a fully stocked battleship each, and ceilings adorned with twenty-four carat gold! Additionally, huge amounts of food were served to those inhabiting the palace, including the servants and workers, which was a demonstration by Henry of his wealth and status.

We were also told many tales about life in the palace including the gripping tale of Jane Seymour’s ghost (Henry VIII’s third wife) who is said to haunt the gallery of Henry’s processional route to the royal chapel. Everyone really enjoyed the trip to Hampton Court .Thank you to all the teachers for organising this fantastic trip!”

On Friday 10 February 2023, Dr to be, Emma Bastin, came in to talk to Stephen Perse Sixth Form on invitation from the Sixth Form History Society about her PhD. It turned out to be a huge treat.

We weren’t really sure what to expect -the title of the talk was: ‘The consumption of rayon in interwar Britain’. This was an optional talk for Sixth Form students, and those that came were truly delighted.

Leon said: “It was really interesting and refreshing to come at the era from the whole perspective of clothes”. The social aspect of history and society was an angle that he hadn’t considered before, and so it was interesting to see that period from a consumer perspective. Tereza was keen to make parallels to today’s society. How fun it was to compare the fast fashion of today with its birthplace in the 1930s. The impact of rayon as a fabric on how ladies bought clothes and indeed went shopping with a more disposable income was quite contrary to our traditional understanding of interwar England.

Suddenly, they had money that they could use to buy a whole dress rather than just buy one dress a year. Jessie was fascinated by the way that Mrs Bastin brought in how shopping has evolved since the Victorian era. Consumerism and shopping generally today has a history of its own.

Emma Bastin had examples of 1930s Rayon fabric dresses with her which the students could touch and see. Similarly she had bought magazines from the period illustrating what her PhD focused on. There was time for her to discuss with the students the details involved in working on a PhD. There was time for a few questions at the end but this was a talk where the students did not want her to stop and in fact had more questions than time permitted. We are incredibly grateful to her for giving up her time and sharing her knowledge with us all.

Florence was wary that the language academics use can be hard for students to fully engage with but this talk was accessible and enlightening in terms of how rayon kick started the consumer economy that we have today. On behalf of the Stephen Perse History Society we wish Emma Bastin the best of luck in receiving her PhD.

Alumna Kirsten Smith

Kirsten Smith, who left Stephen Perse in 2018, kindly came to talk to the Sixth Form students about studying History at the University of Oxford.

Kirsten studied Art at Loughborough for a year before deciding that History was her passion and making a personal application through UCAS to Oxford. She is passionate about American History and in her final year at Oxford.

Kirsten gave an interesting talk on History University Preparation, about how History is studied at Oxford and she gave a breakdown of the different ways of thinking about History. Students were particularly interested in the mechanics of applying, as well as the realities of university life and the talk gave the students lots to think about in terms of where they want to apply, why they want to apply and where their applications might lead them.