Complementing your curriculm
Whether you are studying the Tudors, the Victorians, Signs and Symbols, Knights and Castles or Medieval England our introductory talk will be tailored to enhance the topic. Hands-on brass rubbing sessions in which each child creates a spectacular picture, reinforce the information given and Follow-up work sheets, crosswords and quizzes are provided for teachers to use in subsequent lessons.
Medieval brassesFrom the late thirteenth century to the Wars of the Roses vast numbers of memorial brasses were made. These give us a unique picture of life in the middle ages - the elegant ladies fashions, the changes in armour and the importance of religion are beautifully illustrated by these larger-than-life pictures. Lions, dogs, dragons - even rabbits - also feature - but what do they signify? Let us reveal the secrets.  |  | Tudor brassesIn Tudor times brass memorials were often used as a status symbol as well as a way of remembering an ancestor. Heraldic tabards, dog-kennel headdresses, griffins, eagles, a sheep and a woolpack, a group of children - all these can be found engraved on brass plates by craftsmen living in the reigns of Henry VIII and his children. The life-size brass rubbings we use to illustrate our introductory talk will illustrate many unusual aspects of Tudor life.  | | Victorian brassesThe magnificent churches the Victorians built often recreated Medieval or Tudor designs. Inside, these churches were furnished in much the same
way as their earlier counterparts. Victorians were fascinated by memorial brasses and their revival of this ancient craft has provided us with some excellent brass pictures of eminent clergymen, architects, soldiers and politicians of the nineteenth century. Tales of a bishop who blew his thumb off, an architect who fell to his death from wobbly scaffolding or even a dog called Bruce bring alive our Victorian ancestors.
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