2 Grace went up steps to go into the Great Hall. What was the room under the Great Hall?
3 What was the ceiling of the Great Hall made from?
4 What hung on the walls?
5 What is a brazier?
Fact File
Castles in Ireland were first built by the Anglo Normans, but the Irish chieftains soon realised that they provided a safe place to live during troubled times. Most of the Irish castles were tower houses - usually about four stories high and with a spiral staircase connecting the rooms. They were easily defended as they were usually built on high ground, or within the walls of a fort. They had battlements, machicolations (to drop boiling oil on enemies) and opes (holes for shooting arrows or musket balls).
Draw...!
Draw a picture of a castle.
Explore...!
Try making a model of a castle or tower house by getting four or five shoeboxes and sticking them together. Furnish the Great Hall according to the description in chapter 1 of 'The Secret of Drumshee Castle'.
Imagine......!
1 Imagine that you discover a ruined castle in the middle of a wood. Describe how you went through it, and what you found there - something which had been hidden for centuries.
2 Imagine a battle of four hundred years ago. You can be inside the castle - or perhaps one of the attackers.Write an exciting story about what happened.
