Shell 'Form': Cultural Visits
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Written by Matthew Blossom, Head of Shell Form
Oxford
The aim of this visit was to learn more about how a medieval city grew up in tandem with one of the world’s great centres of learning and how one can still trace evidence of the old city within the modern day city centre.
Pupils met former Marlborough pupils who are now studying in Oxford and explored some of the university's Colleges, the Oxford City Castle & Prison, the Bodleian Library, Blackwell’s Bookshop and a range of museums.
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This visit revealed something about the life of clerics in the medieval age and how much of their world survives within the religious traditions of today. Pupils toured Salisbury Cathedral, the Cloister, the Close and the walled city centre.
The group returned to Marlborough via Stonehenge allowing a timely comparison between medieval religious practice and the religious practices of the inhabitants of Neolithic Britain.
Bath
With tours of the Roman Baths and the Victoria Art Gallery coupled with a chance to take in the striking architecture of the Royal Crescent, this visit to Bath allowed pupils to understand more about the culture of Roman Britain, and then to compare that lifestyle with the rediscovery of 'Classical values' during the Georgian Regency period.
Bristol
Pupils visiting Bristol were able to understand something of the impressive period of industrial, commercial and imperial expansion of Britain in the three centuries from 1600 to 1900. The group was encouraged to appreciate the contribution of‘heroes of progress’ like Isambard Kingdom Brunel, but also to ponder the costs of such growth, in particular, slavery and the exploitation of labour.
The group visited the Museum of Empire, walked through Bristol docks and toured the S.S. Great Britain. Pupils also visited St. Mary Redcliffe Church to get a flavour of the cosmopolitan wealth of Britain’s earliest colonial traders.