History

History

History tells stories about people, places and things to help explain to young people of any age why the world is as it is as they grow up and begin to question it.

Schools will choose different periods and settings and topics to cove during different Key Stages, but all of them are pretty well guaranteed to be rooted in actual places that can be visited, explored and enjoyed.

It has been a curious fact that for many years primary classes have studied the Roman, Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods, while secondary school syllabuses have been more engaged in post-medieval periods. For a while secondary courses involved a great deal of ‘topic work’. While this discipline still exists, the recent examination syllabuses have returned to an emphasis on historical periods and links.

But all periods and topics provide fantastic opportunities for school visits. We are so lucky that so many general and specialist museums and visitor centres exist in the UK. The problem is not a shortage of possibilities but how one sifts through the available opportunities to make choices.

The Historical Association (link is external) website carries information about course, conferences, study tours, and the Association has published ‘The Historian (link is external)’ magazine for many years. Handsam is also happy to help, please contact us on 0844 335 1737 or email info@schooltripsadvisor.org.uk (link sends e-mail).

Most venues will have teaching materials and activities geared to students’ different ages and aptitudes whether at primary or secondary level. All of them will set out to develop students’ ability to understand, analyse and evaluate key features and characteristics of historical periods and events studied.

Some venues will be easy to identify because they fit neatly with the period and topic being studied but others may offer new possibilities, not least to the teachers themselves. Teachers need and deserve their own stimulation.

Over the next four years there will be an upsurge in visits to the First World War battlefields. Because of this there will be an increase in companies offering visits and requirement for battlefield guides, especially in northern France and Belgium. There are bound to be discrepancies in guides’ knowledge and experience. Close research into the credentials of the company you are contracting with, and the company’s guarantees about guides, will ensure that your group will not be disappointed.

 

Main organisations:

The Historical Association (link is external)

Commonwealth War Graves Commission (link is external)

Inclusion: NASEN (link is external)

 

Thought of visiting?

Roman Vindolanda and Roman Army Museum at Hadrian’s Wall

Viriconium, Wroxeter, Shropshire

The London Museum

The Jorvik Viking Centre, York

Winchester Discovery Centre

National Museum, Cardiff

Offa’s Dyke Trail and Chirk Castle

The National Trust (link is external)

Bannockburn Heritage Centre

The National Trust for Scotland (link is external)

Youth Hostels Association (link is external)

Historic Scotland (link is external)

Clan Donald Visitor Centre, Isle of Skye

Bosworth Battlefield Visitor Centre

Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin

Hull and East Riding Museum

Soane Museum, London

Exeter Cathedral Education Centre

Ironbridge Gorge Museums

Royal Armouries Museum

The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

The Scottish Maritime Museum

The Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

East Anglia Railway Museum, Colchester

The National Tramway Museum, Matlock

The Museum of Rugby at Twickenham

Windermere Steamboat Museum, Cumbria

 

For a complete list of venues and providers who deliver specialist courses and activities for this subject see below:

Venue Type: 
Museums
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The Society was incorporated as a City Livery Company in 1617. Its Hall (dating from 1668-72), archives and artefacts also record and reflect its activities as a major centre for manufacturing and retailing drugs (1671-1922), founder of Chelsea Physic Garden in 1673 and medical examining and licensing body from 1815.

Venue Type: 
Castles
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As you sail up Loch Scresort towards the new landing stage on Rum, Kinloch Castle dominates the view at the head of the bay. Today it is surrounded by trees but early pictures show it in isolated splendour in open country. The Castle remains the most intact Edwardian country house in Britain.

Jacobean-style house with gardens and a working watermill
Venue Type: 
Historic Buildings & Monuments
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A passion for tradition and impressing guests inspired one man to transform a run-down country house and desolate landscape.

Impressive working 18th-century watermill
Venue Type: 
Historic Buildings & Monuments
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Follow this amazing survival story of a mill that was almost demolished, then saved by the local villagers and restored to working order to carry on the tradition of milling on this site for over 1,000 years.

Set in an idyllic village location on an island on the Great Ouse River, Houghton Mill has inspired artists and photographers for generations. Come and experience the sound and atmosphere of a traditional working mill, have a go at making flour or lose yourself in the tranquillity of the riverside setting.

Venue Type: 
Parks and Gardens
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The Chelsea Physic Garden was founded in 1673 by the Society of Apothecaries to study the therapeutic properties of plants. In addition there are many rare plants and a rock garden dating from 1773. New for 2014: enlarged and re-modelled Garden of Medicinal Plants, displaying their past, present and future usage.

Venue Type: 
Historic Buildings & Monuments
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The remains of this Romano-Celtic temple, probably built during the 4th century AD, lie at the top of a hill on the South Dorset Downs, with fine views inland and out across Weymouth Bay.

Venue Type: 
Castles
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The first Belfast Castle was built by the Normans in Belfast city centre in the late 12th century. A second castle, made of stone and timber, was later constructed by Sir Arthur Chichester, Baron of Belfast, on the same site in 1611. 

Sadly, the castle burned down almost 100 years later, leaving only street names, such as Castle Place, to mark its location.

The home of one of the most remarkable men of the 20th century
Venue Type: 
Historic Buildings & Monuments
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Nuffield Place reveals the surprisingly down-to-earth lives of Lord Nuffield, founder of the Morris Motor Company, and his wife. Their home and personal possessions are just as they left them, the decor and furnishings intact.

From the comfortable sitting room with a small black and white TV, to Lord Nuffield's humble bedroom with a secret built-in workshop, this intimate home exudes the tastes and interests of its remarkable owner.

Venue Type: 
Religious Buildings
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Since 1928, most members of the Royal Family, except for sovereigns and their consorts, have been interred here. Among those interred here are three of Queen VIctoria's children (Princess Helena, 1846–1923; Prince Arthur, 1850–1942; Princess Louise, 1848–1939) as well as one former monarch (Edward VIII, 1894–1972, later the Duke of Windsor) and his wife Wallis Simpson. In the adjacent Frogmore gardens is the mausoleum of Queen Victoria's mother.

Outstanding 400-year-old Cotswold market hall
Venue Type: 
Historic Buildings & Monuments
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In the centre of Chipping Campden, a lovely small town in the Cotswolds stands the beautiful Market Hall. Surrounded by ancient houses made from the local honey-coloured stone, it’s easy to imagine the market-place alive with the bustle of traders from centuries past.

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