Activities at Pucklechurch Primary School

Pucklechurch Primary School Project

The Pucklechurch primary school is actively involved in learning about the archaeology of the village and in particular the story of King Edmund and his palace. The children drew their own storyboards of the life of King Edmund. 

A storyboard for the use of primary school pupils is shown below.

The story of King Edmund and the Anglo-Saxon period in England

• In Anglo Saxon times Pucklechurch was surrounded by the large forest of Kingswood which would have been very protective for royalty and ideal to hunt in, as well as a quiet place for spending some time in away from battling enemies.

• Imagine a country full of warring peoples……it was a hard life in those days to live as long as we do today because of the fear of being attacked, or of illnesses that couldn't be cured…….. In the time when King Edmund was alive England had been suffering attacks from the northern continents like Denmark and the Norsemen, and from uprisings from the Irish and Scottish all of whom wanted to rule England.

Edmund was born in AD 921 and became King in 939. He was the second King of England, the first coming before him was called King Athelstan who was his half brother.

When Edmund became King of Wessex and south England, he had all sorts of troubles to sort out between the warring peoples of Britain, and one of these problems was King Olaf of Dublin who had captured York and fought against King Edmund in battle in the midlands. It took Edmund the Magnificent 3 years to 941 to defeat this king and he took back Northumbria in 944 into the southern English Wessex kingdom.

His most famous act of bravery was re-capturing the city of York in north England. The King of Dublin was a Danish norseman, because the norsemen had invaded Ireland and it was governed by them. In medieval times England had many Kings from Ireland, Denmark, Wales and Scotland, and there are many names to remember!

• The north Englanders did not like being ruled by the southern Saxon Kings of Wessex or by the Vikings or Danes and so were always fighting to gain their independence from them, so Edmund was always under attack from people from the north and west.

• Germany and France were also having the same problems with Vikings and King Edmund the Magnificent wanted to send soldiers to France to try and help them, but before this could happen Edmund had been murdered.

• King Edmund had escaped death once before when he had been holding court at Cheddar. Holding court means that he was visiting a town or village and meeting the Lords of the Manor who looked after his land and who supported him as King and entertained him with hunting and feasting.

• King Edmund was hunting with his friends and Lords and he miraculously escaped death when his hounds pursued a stag over the edge of Cheddar Gorge and his own horse pulled up on the brink of the cliff.

• He was so thankful not to have died, as he thought his belief in God was the reason for being saved, that he decided to support the church more and ordered the rebuilding of the monasteries which had been destroyed by the Vikings.

• Edmund had to make many decisions about how to deal with difficult people in his kingdom, one of which was a robber called Leof. Leof was a thief who was banished from the kingdom of Wessex for his crimes by the young King Edmund.

• One evening on the May 26th AD 946, while Edmund was feasting at his hunting lodge in Pucklechurch, this robber suddenly broke into the building to take revenge for being exiled.

• One of Edmunds stewards jumped up to capture the man but was struggling to control him, they would have been fighting with swords or knives. At this point Edmund thought he would help his faithful servant win the fight but was stabbed fatefully by Leof and died soon afterwards.

• He was then carried through the medieval village of Pucklechurch to Glastonbury; the road they took was called Kings Lane which still exists in Pucklechurch today.

• Edmund was a very brave King who died at the age of 24 and will be remembered most for fighting the Vikings in the north. His death in Pucklechurch also means that people who read about this part of history know about your village.

Wednesday 7th November

Bristol Evening Post came to Pucklechurch Primary School and three children were awarded little prizes for the best three pictures, and certificates were handed out by their teacher.

All of these drawings were on show at the community hall up till Christmas in Pucklechurch. The school has set up an archaeology club and the one of the first events was to take the children on a field walking exercise to look for archaeological artefacts.