| Trip to St John’s Gate |
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| We went to St John’s Gate and Crypt as part of our project on Clerkenwell. We walked there because it was not far from school. First of all we had a look at St John’s Ambulance Service Museum. The service was founded by some people who, after setting up the service, became warriors. The St John’s Ambulance Service now has over forty two branches worldwide. It helped people during the First and Second World Wars, caring not only for soldiers on the battlefield, but people who were injured during the blitz in London. I think it was very cool how people in medieval times could found something so strong that it lasted until 2003, let alone being in forty two different countries! |
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In the Great Hall we saw the heraldic shields of all priors, from the Order of St. John, from 1142. The library contained a five-hundred year old Bible and lots of books covered with vellum. In the Council room we pretended to be members of the Court (the King, Queen, Honorary Knights etc). Also, in the Council room, we saw an amazing stained glass window of a lion and a dragon surrounding King Henry VIII’s coat of arms. Next we climbed up the five-hundred year old staircase to the Malta Room where there were two of the best paintings of the harbour, in Malta, where the order of St. John settled. There were lots of beautiful pots and vases, also there were gold and silver plates. Back in the Great Hall we saw the chandelier and I found out that there were seventy-two diamonds that reflected all the colours of the rainbow. |