Sandwell Priory

When Sandwell Priory was in use, 800 years ago, it was occupied by Benedictine monks. A typical day would have started at midnight with the first service. They would have to get up again at 6am for another service, followed by breakfast of bread and mead. Then on to work, anything from working in the fields to copying texts….then yet another service .... and at 9am the monks would gather and discuss the matters of the monastery followed by another service. At midday the monks would gather in the refectory for their main meal, where they ate in silence while the scriptures were read to them. After a short rest and another service they returned to work, followed by another service. At 4pm they had their supper followed by the last service of the day, then bed! Phew!

St Benedict, the founder of the Benedictine monks thought that monks should practice humility, prayer, obedience, silence, and solitude. The monasteries were self-contained, allowing the monks to live their lives away from everyone else and therefore be better able to practice the above qualities. Because the monks lived most of their life in silence, they had over 100 different hand signs so they could communicate with each other. In a time when there were no libraries, or schools, monasteries were the centres of learning. The monks would spend part of their day transcribing texts, some of these were illustrated, often with the first letter on the page was enlarged and decorated with wonderful pictures.

The Latin for feather is pen - special knives were used to create quill pens out of feathers….which is where we get 'pen knife' from! We made a quill pen by cutting a feather nib as shown. We made ink out of charcoal and water and some of us used the quill to sign our names.

Local nobles who lived near the monasteries, often donated money, and in return, would be reserved a space inside the monastery for after their demise. Some of the outlines of these tombs still remain, here a yac member tries one for size. We can see that people of the 21st Century are a lot taller - This grave was for a full-grown man!

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