Our lucky students headed out for an excursion to Warwick Castle yesterday, where they were immersed in 11 centuries of British history. The castle, prettily situated on a bend of the River Avon, was built by William the Conqueror soon after the Norman Conquest of 1066, for which he is named―the motte-and-bailey settlement allowed William to consolidate his control of the Midlands as he continued his conquest northwards. The castle took the form we see it in now in the 13th and 14th centuries, when the more established Earls of Warwick built stone battlements and grand towers in a show of power and wealth.

Students made adventures of their own, walking along the ramparts and climbing to the towers’ tops, and watching birds of prey and jousting shows back down on the ground. Descending even further, students delved into the castle’s dungeons for a ghost tour―a good place for it, as these dungeons have, in their time, held prisoner the purported lover of King Edward II, Piers Gaveston; King Edward IV, during the rebellion led against him by his brother the Duke of Clarence; and Royalist prisoners during the Civil War in the 17th century. Students enjoyed getting a closer look at history and exploring the grounds in the balmy summer weather.

A short coach journey down the M40 returned them to St Hugh’s, where they set about evening activities of tie-dying T-shirts, playing rounders and football in the University Parks, running through their acts ahead of ORA’s Got Talent tomorrow, or finishing off homework on the grass.