The Heritage Centre is housed in an old chapel within the Town Cemetery. This building dates from the latter half of the 19c but has recently been refurbished.
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 website carries information about course, conferences, study tours, and the Association has published ‘The Historian’ magazine for many years. Handsam is also happy to help, please contact us on 03332 070737 or email info@schooltripsadvisor.org.uk.
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:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Inclusion: NASEN
Thought of visiting?
Roman Vindolanda and Roman Army Museum at Hadrian’s Wall
Viriconium, Wroxeter, Shropshire
The Jorvik Viking Centre, York
Offa’s Dyke Trail and Chirk Castle
The National Trust for Scotland
Clan Donald Visitor Centre, Isle of Skye
Bosworth Battlefield Visitor Centre
Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin
Exeter Cathedral Education Centre
The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
The Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth
East Anglia Railway Museum, Colchester
The National Tramway Museum, Matlock
Venues for this Curriculum
Housed in the former butter and meat markets, now also the Drill Hall, the museum was established in 1949. The collection is mainly Victorian and covers all aspects of life on the Lizard Peninsula. Additions in recent times include an Early Learning Area, art and costume galleries and a shop. New displays in 2009 included serpentine and wartime.
Bodmin Town Museum is situated on the lower ground floor of The Public Rooms which are on the site of Bodmin's Franciscan Friary.
The Museum houses a rich heritage of artifacts and collections that tell the story of Bodmin from the earliest times. Displays of material relating to social life, trade and transport, rocks and minerals, the World Wars, Cornish kitchen, Law and Order.
Geevor Tin Mine, dramatically situated on Cornwall’s Atlantic coast is the largest preserved mine site in the country and the gateway to the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site. Explore the many surface buildings with their magnificent mining machinery, get interactive in the Hard Rock museum and go underground into 19th century Wheal Mexico mine!
Falmouth Art Gallery has a vibrant exhibition programme. We change exhibitions regularly and hang works from our permanent collection alongside major museum loans, work from local artists, community groups, school children and students.
Historic house, museum and outstation of the National Portrait Gallery
Bodelwyddan Castle has over 500 years of history to discover. We are an independant charitable trust and a regional partner of the National Portrait Gallery with a mixture of UK and National Collections to discover. Our free, state of the art multimedia guides will take you on a fascinating journey through this historic house and will bring its stories and characters to life.
The Bluebell Museum collects, preserves, interprets and makes accessible to the public, artefacts, history, customs, practice and skills relating specifically to the Bluebell Railway and generally to the railways in the South of England.
Experience life as it was over 100 years ago through the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of a recreated Victorian Town
Blists Hill is an open-air museum, one of ten museums operated by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, built on a former industrial complex. It is one of the ten Ironbridge Gorge Museums. Enjoy a truly memorable day out at this recreated Victorian Town. An enjoyable way for all ages to discover more about Victorian life.
One day is never enough. Discover a complete Norfolk estate with something for everyone.
Nobody ever forgets their first sight of Blickling. The breath-taking red-brick mansion and ancient yew hedges sit at the heart of a magnificent garden and historic park in the beautiful Bure meadows.
The story of the estate unfolds over a thousand years. The landscape with its hedges and narrow tree-lined lanes has changed little over the centuries and is quintessentially Norfolk.
Come and see our wonderful collection of fashions dating from the early 18th century to the 1970's. Lime Tree House is a beautiful Georgian house built by John and William Bastard after the great fire of Blandford in 1731.
Schools
Children's Activities
The timber-framed house of Blakesley Hall was built in 1590 by Richard Smalbroke, a member of one of Birmingham’s leading merchant families. More than 400 years later, beautiful Blakesley is still a haven; secluded from the avenues of modern houses that lie beyond its gates. Admission charges apply to the Hall only.
The museum is run by the Brynmawr and District Museum Society and has won the Nationwide Building Society award for Community Endeavour. It has a varied collection of everyday artefacts including a collection of Brynmawr Furniture manufactured by one of the small industries set up by the Quakers in The Brynmawr Experiment.
The Abertillery and District Museum is run by the volunteers of Abertillery and District Museum Society. The Abertillery and District Museum originally opened on the 13th of January 1972 on the ground-floor of Abertillery library.
This new state of art musuem is managed by Blaina Heritage Action Group. The museum displays the heritage and history of Blaina and the local area.
As one of the first purpose built free museums to open outside of London in 1874, Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery houses a rich and fascinating collection covering fine art, decorative art, Egyptology, coins, manuscripts, natural history, social history and South Asia.
The original plan for the route was for the line to run from the Shrewsbury and Hereford line at Craven Arms to join what eventually became the Cambrian Railway near Montgomery, with a short branch to Bishop’s Castle.
The Bishop’s Stortford Museum is housed in the original Victorian building which was the birthplace of Cecil Rhodes (1853 – 1902), financier and founder of diamond company De Beers. The museum is a local landmark and receives vistiors from all over the world many of whom come to see the unique collection of artefacts about Rhodes and his life.
This charming cottage, dating from 1502, is the oldest domestic building in the market town of Dereham. It houses local history and archaeology displays, including archive photos of Dereham and still has its authentic Victorian kitchen.
Murder, grave robbing and insanity are all part of the story of this fascinating and unique building - the Manor House has seen it all.
Built by Richard de Marnham in the 1270s, The Manor House is now probably one of the most important surviving medieval timber framed buildings in the Midlands and the most recent building to become part of Sandwell Museum Service.
Wednesbury Museum is Sandwell's Museum and Art Gallery. It is a purpose built Victorian Art Gallery, housing collections which include fine art paintings, applied art, old toys as well as one of the world's largest collections of Ruskin pottery.
It is free to visit the Museum and Art Gallery in Wednesbury. We have a platform lift to the first floor.
Haden Hill House Museum in Cradley Heath, Rowley Regis is a Victorian gentleman's residence furnished in period style, surrounded by 55 acres of award winning parkland.
Oak House in West Bromwich is a delightful half timbered yeoman farmer's house built round about 1630 or earlier.
The Oak House Museum boasts some fine panelling and is furnished with 17th century furniture. The house is set in its own grounds with a children's playground on site which is available to visitors during the opening hours of the museum.
An 18th century cottage which was the boyhood home of Francis Asbury, the first American Methodist Bishop. Asbury is virtually unknown in Britain but has his own statue on the Capitol in Washington. He is considered important in the founding of an independent American nation.
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