Immerse yourself in the fascinating and surprising history of mid-Antrim. As soon as you enter the Museum's fourteen metre high atrium, you'll begin to see mid-Antrim in a whole new light! The entrance contains special installations designed to open your eyes to the links between people and place, local history and local identity.
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
Among the largest and most complex of Iron Age hillforts in Europe, Maiden Castle’s huge multiple ramparts once protected several hundred residents. Excavations in the 1930s and 1980s revealed the site's 4,000-year history, from a Neolithic causewayed enclosure to a small Roman temple built on the site in the 4th century AD.
Book a tour of the magnificent Grade 1 listed Bruce Castle with one of the curators? See behind the scenes. Discover more about the history of the building and the fascinating people who lived here.
Schools
Visitors to Manchester United's Old Trafford ground can see the museum and its exhibits as well as taking a tour of the stadium.
Memorablia from the team's famous past and present is on display.
Items on show include artefacts that celebrate Manchester United successes. A special treble exhibition charts the winning season of 1998 to 1999.
Looking for an educational trip out? Visit Portchester Castle in Hampshire, South East England. It provides the perfect setting for a relaxed, fun, historic day out!
The castle’s commanding location has made it a major factor in the Solent's defences for hundreds of years.
The two massive Saxon stone crosses, elaborately carved with animals and Biblical scenes including the Nativity of Christ and the Crucifixion, dominate the cobbled market square of Sandbach. Probably dating from the 9th century, and originally painted as well as carved, they are among the finest surviving examples of Anglo-Saxon high crosses.
Visit the substantial remains of a strong and important motte and bailey castle dating from the 11th to 13th centuries, with surrounding walls, ditches and earthworks.
The Inniskillings Museum is situated in the 15th Century Keep and 18th century Military outbuildings of Enniskillen Castle. The Museum tells the story of the town of Enniskillen's two regiments - the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards and the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.
A 'cemetery' of 44 Bronze Age burial mounds of varying types and sizes, straddling the A35 main road.
Fermanagh County Museum is a registered museum, under the MLA Accreditation Scheme for museums. The museum is located within and around the historic Enniskillen Castle and was established in 1976 by Fermanagh District Council. The museum collections reflect Fermanagh's history, culture and environment.
Roofed and walled in stone, this complex of passages is the largest and best-preserved of several mysterious underground tunnels associated with Cornish Iron Age settlements. The purpose of such 'fogous' - a Cornish-language word meaning 'cave' - is unknown. Refuges, storage chambers or ritual shrines have all been suggested.
Small roofless chapel, established early in the twelfth century.
This is an unstaffed open site, so there's no booking required!
Manchester Town Hall in Albert Square is one of the most iconic landmarks in the city. Regarded as one of the finest examples of Neo-Gothic architecture in the United Kingdom, it is one of the most important Grade 1 listed buildings in England. The building was designed by architect Alfred Waterhouse and was completed in 1877.
A Neolithic chambered tomb with an enigmatic 'false entrance'.
This barrow, also known as Rodmarton Long Barrow, is of early Neolithic date (4000–3500 BC).
It seems that the site was used for burials well after the Neolithic period as Roman pottery and coins of Claudius Gothicus (AD 168–70) have been found.
Three fine late Neolithic or early Bronze Age stone circles arranged in a line, a grouping unique in England.
Probably the best examples of ceremonial circles in the south west, they are traditionally reputed to be the remains of men petrified for playing 'hurling' on a Sunday.
Please note: Parking is quarter of a mile walk away.
The remains of a Bronze Age settlement, side by side with several sacred sites, including three stone rows, a stone circle, standing stones and burial cairns, probably constructed over a long period between c. 2500 BC and 1000 BC.
Traditionally believed to be a monarch and his courtiers petrified by a witch, the Rollright Stones are a set standing stones which consist of three groups: the King's Men stone circle; the Whispering Knights burial chamber; and the single King Stone.
They span nearly 2,000 years of Neolithic and Bronze Age development.
Housed in the Old Custom House in the dock area, one of the oldest buildings in the town. The museum illustrates the history of the major industries which the town has been home to - whaling, fishing and petroleum.
The Museum collection reflects all of these aspects of the town's history, but focuses particularly on the maritime history.
Groups and schools welcome.
Discover the history of lead mining in the Peak District and how it has shaped the landscape since Roman times. Interactive exhibits and climbing tunnels for the kids. Lots of relics to see, plus hundreds of rock and mineral specimens.
Visit the award-winning IWM North to discover powerful stories that reveal how war shapes lives, from a soldier’s last letter home to the twisted steel of New York City's World Trade Center. Housed in Daniel Libeskind’s iconic building representing a globe torn apart by conflict, IWM North offers a free day out like no other.
Fairlynch Museum and Arts Centre is one of the very few thatched museums in the UK. The building, a typical example of a 'marine cottage orné' and Grade II listed, dates from 1811.
The museum opened in 1967. It aims, for educational and general interest to exhibit artefacts and information about the history and development of Budleigh Salterton and the Lower Otter Valley.
See the steam trains from the golden age of the Great Western Railway in the original engine shed, with a recreation of Brunel's broad gauge railway and a typical country branch line.
The Chapter of Guildford Cathedral welcome school children of all ages and backgrounds to learn about this modern centre of Christian worship.
Come and explore the last Anglican Cathedral consecrated on a new site, in 1961. Guildford Cathedral’s Schools’ Department is dedicated to making your visit memorable, experiential and educational.
How can we help?
Climb aboard at the Streetlife Museum of Transport and enjoy all the sights, sounds and smells of the past. Admission to the Streetlife Museum is free.
Experience 200 years of transport history as you walk down a 1940’s high street, board a tram or enjoy the pleasures of our carriage ride.
Discover how the town of Belper was turned into the world’s first factory community in this great mill and museum that is free to visit for under 16s. Family friendly hands on activities and exhibits.
It is recognised as one of the most important buildings from the Industrial Revolution in the whole world!
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