Durham County Record Office: the official archive service for County Durham and Darlington

Suggested Activities

1. Create your own Inventory

Using the example as a template, write an Inventory of everything in your kitchen, then compare it to the Tudor Inventory. You might also like to draw a picture.

2. "I beg your pardon!"

Imagine that you have been accused of taking part in the Northern Rebellion. Your only hope of avoiding execution is to write to the Queen and ask her for a pardon. You will need to be as persuasive as possible. Think of your character, you might argue that you have children to feed, or that you would be more useful to the Queen as a hard-working farmer, producing food for her subjects. You might want to begin "Dear Your Majesty, I humbly beseech you to grant my pardon because...."

3. Drama

Once you have created your character, you might want to play that character in a drama scene. In groups, create a scene based on the daily life of your characters. You must include the words 'Have you heard the news?'