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Year 6 Chepstow Castle Trip 2008

The highlight of the trip to Chepstow was the archery demonstration by our guide, Kevin Hicks. We met him at the gatehouse after a tour of the walls by our teachers. He then immediately showed he was a bit mad. Personally, I think he received a nasty knock on the head while serving in the army. He asked us how to defend the castle and then treated us to a very detailed description of what happens when boiling sand and boiling water are dropped on you.

We then moved on and I told him Conor is Welsh. Much to my disappointment he didn’t shoot Conor with his crossbow. We were then given a tour of the kitchens and cellar where we were told about some of the lovely goods dished up, a cockatiel, a pig sewn to a hen as well as birds sewn into each other and a pie with live blackbirds asleep in it. As a centrepiece of the feast: a wild boar. Swiftly moving on, we went to the keep while our guide set up his bow and arrow demonstration. He fixed balloons to a cross and starting with a crossbow, began firing, missing as he re-loaded as quickly as possible. Moving onto the longbow he fired a dozen off in a minute and then shot the balloons. After this he demonstrated how Prince Henry got an arrow through his face and how it was mutilated getting the arrow out. Overall, Chepstow was very enjoyable as well as educational.

The most memorable moment of Chepstow castle for me was the ‘back gate’. It doesn’t look a lot like it used to, as it had a drawbridge and two other portcullises. Our guide told us about the murder-holes in between the portcullises, where the defenders would pour boiling sand down that would stick to your skin and burn you. They used to pour other things down as well, but boiling sand was the main one, as it was available. Most people wouldn’t see the gate from the outside as it was right at the back. There was a slit at the top where soldiers would stand, and fire crossbow bolts at the attackers. The drawbridge was several feet long, and when it was raised, it would cover the portcullises. Attackers would have to get through the drawbridge having crossbar bolts fired at them then get through 3 portcullises with boiling sand being poured on them. If you managed to get through that, you would have a very small amount of men left.

Chepstow was certainly a very memorable trip. It was enjoyable and fun, if mildly gory in one place. The main highlight was clearly the guide, Kevin Hicks. He was rather mad and very entertaining. For some reason, my brother said he shouted lots. That is not true. He didn’t shout once. He clearly knew a lot about the castle. An enjoyable bit was when he described food they would eat in the old days. He described a lovely meal – blackbird pie. It had live and dead blackbirds in it. This was very good, but the best bit was the archery. He had a crossbow and a longbow. With the longbow he fired fourteen arrows in a minute – impressive! The crossbow was much more accurate, but it took longer to shoot. I got to be one of the people who collected arrows after the demonstration. Unfortunately, just after I found one I knelt on one right next to it. It broke. He was quite annoyed, as you would expect. After that it was the ‘gory’ bit. I didn’t think it was at all gory. He told us about a soldier who had an arrow through his head. It sounded like it would be quite painful. He had a fake head with a liquid that looked very much like blood on it. My friend said he smelt strawberries. I don’t see how though, strawberries smell of nothing. He said that the way to heal his head was to take out the arrow, then for six months, a piece of honey covered string was put through his head and changed every two days. All in all, this trip was great!

Casper Thompson de Wit

The guide, who showed us the inside of the castle, was quite memorable. He is a former SAS soldier and had a rather unusual character. He showed us the gatehouse and how it was bolted, then he showed us the kitchens. He told us what would be eaten by normal people – a porridge type mixture – and what you would get if the King came and you had a two-week banquet. Blackbird pie with the blackbirds alive and asleep in it, half a pig and half a wild boar sewn together and swans that were positioned as if they were fighting on the table. What a feast! In armour he showed us two different types of bow, the crossbow and the longbow. The crossbow was difficult to load, but much more powerful and the longbow was quick to load, but much less powerful. He (Kevin Hicks) shot at balloons from a good 70 yards away. First he used the crossbow. His armour on his arm wasn’t done up properly so he didn’t hit the balloon. Half way through the longbow, Mr Siddall tightened it up and he immediately hit the balloon. He then hit the spot again and again.

Aidan Chivers

It is 1068...Hold on, fast forward a few hundred years...OK.

My favourite part of Chepstow was the gatehouse. This is where our guide. Kevin Hicks, asked us how we would attack the castle, well the answer wasn’t that obvious. You would ask a laundry lady to tell you how the gates and portcullises work. They were huge towers defending. We saw murder holes, which they dropped boiling sand which stuck to your skin and burnt the flesh. They also fired arrows and rocks down the murder holes. To stop this destroying the ram they cover the ram with a leather covered roof. All in all this was the best part of the trip.

George Tall

We started walking round the castle looking at the impressive walls, which seemed to be gigantic. We quickly realised why the castle had only been captured once and that was using canons during the Civil War between the Cavaliers and the Roundheads. You can still see the holes from the canons. They are only on one wall, there is a big reinforcement to stop it falling down. We walked up a lovely little path with Mr Siddall throwing questions at us. As we arrived at the top of the path we saw a gigantic space where the drawbridge would have been. You could easily picture it even though it must have been at least 10 metres long in those days. We travelled back down the path with cameras taking photos of everything. The number of flashes must have been well over a hundred. A dark figure suddenly appeared in the sun, bows and arrows and crossbows strapped around him, a big sword in his belt. Mr Hicks had arrived, taking us round the castle recounting gruesome stories, gory ones too! Some of us felt faint after hearing them!

Jean Godron

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