Christmas at the Tudor Merchant’s House

Published:: 04 January 2024

For Christmas 2023 we invited you to get into the festive spirit with a visit to see how a Tudor merchant might have celebrated this time of year.

Christmas 2023 has now finished at the Tudor Merchant’s House

The information below was for Christmas 2023. We hope you enjoyed all that we had on offer. Please check back here closer to Christmas 2024 when you will see updates of all the exciting plans we have in store for you.

Please note: due to its small size we are only able to allow 30 people into the house at any one time.

What is Christmas at the Tudor Merchant’s House?

Two of the three floors will be decorated with natural evergreens similar to how we believe a wealthy Tudor family would have decorated their home. The Christmas table will be made up with the kind of foods eaten at the time and the “Lord of Misrule” will be on hand to give a Tudor toy to every child visiting.

Christmas in Tudor times

Did you know many of our Christmas traditions were started by the Tudors? The Tudors were well known for liking a party, and Henry V111 was infamous for his expensive and lavish tastes.

During the winter, life in Tudor times would have been cold and dark and after a hard year of toil wealthy and working-class families would be ready to celebrate their faith in a family environment.

Christmas Decorations

Although Christmas trees were around in the 16^th Century in the Baltic and north Germany, the Tudors would not have had them. Instead they would have decorated their houses with natural evergreens like ivy, holly, laurel and mistletoe and they would have done their decorating on Christmas eve.

Christmas Gifts.

Gifts were given on New Year and would have included items like short poems, or an item of clothing in wealthy homes.

Christmas Customs.

Christmas was quite a long festival taking place over 12 days. Everyone taking a break from work would visit friends and the season was seen very much as a community celebration. The 12 days were actually saint days with the most important being the 25^th December, and the 1^st and 6^th January when the biggest feasts were held.The Lord of Misrule supervised the revelry and was charged with managing unruly events like drinking, role reversal and general chaos.

Christmas food and Fasting

This was a time of serious feasting and included meat like swan, goose and turkey as well as venison peacock and of course wild boar.

Other traditions included pantomimes, carol singing and drinking too much and so on the 12 days over Christmas celebrations, at the Tudor Court and possibly in a rich merchant’s house were filled with light, laughter and feasting.

View of a Tenby street and the harbour — Tenby street near Tudor merchant's House, Tenby | © National Trust / James Dobson

Christmas in Tenby

Settled as early as the 9^th century and with well-preserved medieval town walls, Tenby is a very beautiful and iconic seaside town that became popular as a resort during Georgian and Victorian times. Christmas is a lovely time to visit the town for a spot of Christmas shopping whilst exploring some of the ancient narrow streets. Tenby has lovely beaches as well and walking along the shore on a sharp winter’s day is the perfect way to blow away the cobwebs and enjoy the coast.

Pembrokeshire during Christmas

Pembrokeshire is equally beautiful in Winter as it is in spring and summer. There are many places to discover on a visit at this time of year, from the Stackpole Estate with its award-winning beaches and Grade 1 listed landscape, to exploring the St Davids peninsula in North Pembrokeshire and visiting some of its many little harbours like Solva or Porthclais. If you’re hardy and brave you could even take a dip in the Irish sea or try surfing! Be sure to wrap up warm in a wetsuit if this is new to you.