Lesson video

Hello, and thanks for joining me for another Oak Academy history lesson.

My name is Mrs. Knox, and today, I'll be guiding you through the resources and materials needed for this lesson.

So let's get started now.

The lesson today is part of the AQA GCSE historic environment topic of Norman England.

In today's lesson, we'll be learning about the design of Castle Acre Priory.

And by the end of the lesson, you'll be able to explain why and how Castle Acre Priory was constructed as it was.

Now, in our lesson today, we'll use some key terms, so let's take a look at those now.

The first word we'll use is Romanesque, which is the style of building that was fashionable in Western Europe, which we call the power of the Roman Empire.

We'll also use the word cloister, which is a covered walkway enclosing a large open courtyard found in a religious building.

We'll also use the word dormitory, which is a large room designed for many people to sleep in.

And finally, we'll use the word refectory, which is a room used for communal needs.

Today's lesson will be in two sections, so we'll get started now with section one, which will focus on the architecture of Castle Acre Priory.

Work on constructing the priory began in 1090 with the first buildings being the church cloister, chapter house, dormitory, and refectory.

From the start, Castle Acre Priory was built to impress with a large, stone-built church featuring a high central tower that dominated the landscape and an elaborate intricately designed west end to the church.

That was a classic piece of Cluniac decoration, designed to enhance the spiritual impact of the building, glorify God, and impress all visitors.

Castle Acre Priory, like Cluny Abbey, was built in the Norman's favourite Romanesque style.

Anglo-Saxon churches were generally smaller and often made of wood.

Norman designers, however, built thick stone walls, three metres thick in places, square central towers, and added depth to walls with pillars and semi-circular arches.

These new grander features were designed to impress and to recall the power of the Roman Empire.

Hence, being known as Romanesque.

Romanesque design represented an architectural revolution, which quickly dominated the English landscape and became a lasting symbol of Norman control of the English church.

Okay, it's time for another check of your understanding now.

I'd like you to answer this question.

In what style did the Normans build Castle Acre Priory? Was it A, Rococo, B, Renaissance, or C, Romanesque? Press pause and then press play to hear the correct answer.

That's right, you should have said the correct answer was C, Romanesque.

The priory's Romanesque features included huge stone columns and semi-circular arches.

Arches were often arranged in arcades.

That's a row of arches with another row on top of them called the triforium.

And then a third arcade called the clerestory on top of that.

They created an attractive pattern, and sometimes the arches in the top arcade were used for windows.

Norman architects had to be careful about where they positioned windows.

Too many windows or windows too low down the walls would mean a high wall would not be able to support the weight above it.

To keep walls strong but still looking Romanesque, many Norman buildings featured blind arcade.

This was a pattern of pillars and arches with no windows at all, often with interlocking arches.

Decoration was added to many parts of the building, especially chevron and other geometric patterns over doorways and arches and at the top of pillars called capitals.

These appear to have been added just to make the building more beautiful rather than having particular religious meanings.

The Cluniacs thought that beautiful architecture reflected the glory of God, and it also showed that no expense had been spared in the design or construction of the priory, something that the De Warennes and other patrons of the priory could regard with pride.

Here's another check now of your understanding.

True or false? The Normans used embellishments and decorations such as the chevron pattern, because these markings had religious meanings.

Press pause now and then press play for the correct answer.

You should have said the correct answer is false.

Press pause now again to explain why the answer is false.

As part of your explanation, you could have said that the Normans added these decorations to make their buildings look more beautiful and to impress people by showing that no expense had been spared in their construction.

Here's another true or false question.

The Cluniacs believed that places of worship should be simple, plain and functional.

Press pause and then press play to hear the correct answer.

You should have said the correct answer was false.

Press pause again to write an explanation as to why the answer is false.

You could have said the answer is false because the Cluniacs thought that places of worship should have beautiful architecture to reflect the glory of God and to enhance the spiritual impact of the building.

It took over 50 years for the priory to be built with the church itself consecrated, which means being made ready for religious use, between 1146 and 1148.

Over this period, architecture fashions began to change from the Romanesque style to the gothic style.

Gothic buildings typically had pointed arches rather than the semi-circular arches of the Romanesque style.

They had very high ceilings and elaborate tracery, which means highly detailed stone work around the windows.

The spectacular west end of the priory shows evidence of this changing fashion with the doorways and the three lower sections of the west front built in Romanesque style and then gothic pointed arches at the top of the south tower.

The large central window in the west end was not added until the 15th century.

Time for another check now of your understanding.

What other architectural style influenced the look of Castle Acre Priory over the 50 years it took to build? Was it A, Georgian, B, gothic, or C, Greek? Press pause now and then press play for the correct answer.

You should have said that the correct answer was B, gothic.

Finally, in this section, I'd like you to put your knowledge now into practise.

Describe three aspects of the architecture of Castle Acre Priory that show it was purposefully built to impress.

Try to include the following in your answer, the material of the building, Romanesque features, and gothic features.

You could write one paragraph for each aspect.

Press pause now to complete the task, then press play to see what you could have written.

Welcome back.

Your answer could have included some of the following.

One aspect of Castle Acre Priory's architecture, which shows it was built to impress is the material of the building.

It was constructed from stone unlike Anglo-Saxon churches, which were made of wood, It was deliberately large and imposing with walls three metres thick and a high central tower.

Pillars and semi-circular arches were used to add further depth and strength to the walls, which impressed with their imposing height.

A second feature of Castle Acre Priory's architecture, which shows it was built to impress, is its use of Romanesque design.

This was a favourite Norman architectural style as it recalled the power and strength of the Roman Empire.

It featured huge stone columns and arcades of arches.

Geometric patterns, like chevron, were used to embellish the doorways and the arches to make the building appear even more beautiful and impressive.

A final feature of Castle Acre Priory's architecture, which shows it was built to impress, is its use of gothic features.

These dramatic gothic design elements are on the parts of the priory built later than the original structure, like its west end, which has gothic painted arches at the top of the south tower.

The gothic style also included the use of high ceilings and tracery to embellish the windows.

This shows that the masons wanted to keep up with the latest architectural fashions.

We're ready now to move on to the second section of our lesson today.

This section will look at the monastic design of Castle Acre Priory.

Castle Acre Priory was designed to meet the needs of a community of monks together with their prior, who was the leader of the priory.

The church at Castle Acre Priory was built in imitation of the church at Cluny Abbey, demonstrating the strong links between Cluniac priories and their mother abbey.

Worship took place mostly in the church building, especially at the east end of the church, symbolising the rising sun and resurrection of Jesus.

And in the choir, which was located under the crossing tower, this was where the monks would stand and face each other to carry out their hours long liturgies of prayer, chance, and song.

The priory had semi-circular species called apses at the eastern end to make space for more altars for the monks who had qualified as priests to say masses.

William De Warren, like other Norman lords, was very impressed with the Cluniac's mission to achieve ceaseless, that's unending, prayer.

And these extra altars were a design feature to achieve that aim.

This area was also where members of the De Warren family would hope to be buried as it was seen as the most holy part of the building.

Increasingly, processions became part of the Cluniac's elaborate form of worship in which the monks would walk together chanting and singing.

And so processional doorways were installed in the priory.

Robes and equipment, such as chalices, were stored in the sacristy in the north of the building.

And in this diagram, you can see a plan of Castle Acre Priory.

Most of what you can see was built in the late 12th century.

You can tell by the key which parts were built first.

Also in the diagram, you can see the semi-circular apses, which were an early feature.

Okay, let's have a check now of your understanding.

What was the purpose of adding extra apses to the Castle Acre church building? Was it A, to make more space for pilgrims to pray for William de Warenne? B, to make space for more altars, so more worship could be carried out.

Or C, to make more space for storing the monk's robes and religious items. Press pause and then press play for the correct answer.

You should have said the correct answer is B, to make more space for altars, so more worship could be carried out.

The cloister was positioned to the south of the church when it would get the most sunlight during the day without being overshadowed by the church.

Until the 15th century, the cloister was probably constructed from timber rather than stone, and formed a covered walkway around a central garden.

Its southern position gave the monks walking and studying in the cloister good light for reading and writing during the day, plus the chance of getting warm in the sunshine.

Desks were arranged in the cloister for monk to study at.

Processions sometimes took place around the cloister too.

And to the east of the cloister was the chapter house where monks would gather each day at 9:00 AM and listen to a chapter from the rule of St.

Benedict being read aloud, as well as receiving instructions from the prior about the business of the day.

And once again on the map, we can see the central position of the cloister.

Here's another check now of your understanding.

Why was the cloister a good place to study? A, it was not overshadowed by the church, so it had more light and warmth for studying.

B, it was overshadowed by the church so the monks could stay cool as they worked.

Or C, it was inside the church, so it was the most spiritual part of the priory.

Press pause and then press play to hear the correct answer.

That's right, you should have said the correct answer was A, it was not overshadowed by the church, so it had more light and warmth for studying.

The monks all slept in a first floor dormitory to the east of the cloister at Castle Acre.

Initially, the prior slept in the same dormitory as the other monks as was Cluniac custom, but a private bedroom, study area and chapel were created for the prior in the 12th century called a priory.

This then became somewhere that the prior could meet with important visitors to the priory and entertain them.

Under the dormitory was a study room, a scriptorium for use in the winter when it was too cold to work in the cloister.

And on the plan, you can now see the location of the dormitory.

The monks ate together in the refectory while listening to a reading.

Eating was done in silence in accordance with the rule of St.

Benedict.

With communications, for example, pass the salt, made by sign language.

In very cold weather, the monks were permitted to use a warming room.

In the 12th century, a parlour developed where the monks could sit and talk if they were not expected to be elsewhere.

And on the plan now, you can see the location of the refectory.

The kitchens and infirmary were located slightly apart from the main buildings.

Cluniac monks relied on locals to prepare and serve their food who would work in the kitchen, and this was built as part of a separate block, which also reduced the risk of a kitchen bar spreading to other parts of the priory.

The infirmary was built to care for the sick and elderly monks.

And here, some of the strict discipline of the priory was relaxed.

There was a fire to keep patients, or as inmates, warm.

They were allowed to talk to each other and they were served meals containing meat, which was usually forbidden to the monks.

They were excused from carrying out the eight services of the monastic day, and instead could watch services being carried out in the infirmary chapel.

And the location of the kitchens and the infirmary are now being shown on the map.

Here's a quick question now.

In which part of the priory did the monks sleep? Was it A, the refectory, B, the scriptorium, or C, the dormitory? Press pause and then press play to hear the correct answer.

That's right, you should have said the correct answer was C, the monks sleep in the dormitory.

Castle Acre had its own latrine, which is a toilet block, which was positioned over a narrow channel of fast flowing water, so that waste would be carried away from the priory and into the River Nar.

This was high tech sanitation in the early mediaeval period and would've helped to keep the monks healthier than was the case in Norman towns and cities.

Cluniac monastic life was based on monks praying, studying, and living together.

So the latrine was also a communal space where up to 24 monks could use the toilet facilities at the same time.

And finally, on the map, we now have the latrine block being pointed out.

Here's another true or false question now.

Life for the monks in Castle Acre Priory was solitary.

Press pause and then press play to hear the correct answer.

You should have said the correct answer is false.

Press pause again to write an explanation as to why the answer is false.

You should have said that all aspects of life were communal, even the toilets, and involved the monks praying, studying, and living together.

Finally today, I'd like you to put everything you've learned into practise.

I'd like you to list five examples of the monastic design of Castle Acre Priory to support Lucas' statement.

Let's have a look at Lucas' statement.

Lucas says, "The design of Castle Acre Priory was based on the needs of the monastic community who lived there.

Press pause now to think of your five examples and then press play to see what you could have written.

Welcome back.

Your answer might have included some of the following examples.

The church was designed to have extra space for altars to allow for the Cluniac practise of unceasing prayer.

The cloister provided the light and warmth needed for reading and writing at desks.

The scriptorium could be used for studying indoors in the winter.

The chapter house was where the monks gathered to hear the rule of St.

Benedict.

And the priory provided a place for the prior to meet important visitors.

We've now reached the end of our lesson today, so let's have a recap about everything you should have learned about the design of Castle Acre Priory.

Castle Acre Priory was built in the Romanesque style with some gothic features added towards the end of its construction.

The Romanesque style included thick stone columns, high ceilings, arcades, and arches, and geometric decorations.

Castle Acre Priory was designed to meet the needs of a community of Cluniac monks.

This included a refectory, dormitory, latrines, the scriptorium, cloister, chapter house, an infirmary and priory.

The church was designed so religious services could be carried out almost constantly to fit with Cluniac tradition.

Many thanks for all of your hard work in our lesson together today.

I hope you feel that you've met your learning objective, and I look forward to you joining me again in a future Oak Academy history lesson.