A stone-built causeway, where the road from the south crossed the Vallum earthwork on its way to Benwell fort.
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
Remains of a wealthy Augustinian priory, originally founded at Portchester: once a famous place of pilgrimage. Only part of the refectory wall survives.
This immensely characterful museum commemorates the contribution made during WWII by the 389th Heavy Bombardment Group 2nd Air Division of the American Airforce.
Strategically placed astride the London Road, guarding an important crossing of the River Medway, this imposing fortress has a complex history of destruction and rebuilding. Today it stands as a proud reminder of the history of Rochester along with the cathedral and cobbled steets.
The delightful Row Houses at Row 111 and the Old Merchant’s House are rare remnants of Great Yarmouth’s original distinctive ‘Rows’ which were a network of narrow alleyways linking Yarmouth’s three main thoroughfares.
Roman Alcester is the exciting exhibition interpreting and displaying objects from Alcester's Roman past.
Alcester is one of the most investigated Roman small towns in the country, with over 100 archaeological digs in the last 80 years.
A fine example of a small, well preserved manorial gatehouse dating from the 14th century.
Steeton Hall Gateway is one surviving element of a medieval manorial complex. The solar, or private apartment, and some later buildings also still exist, although the latter are on private land and are not open to the public.
Set within six disused limestone quarries in the heart of the Derbyshire Dales, on the edge of the Peak National Park, and close to the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site, The NSC is a 50 acre site of Special Geological Scientific Interest offering a wealth of outdoor and indoor activities for all the family including;
Extensive earthworks marking the site of an 11th century motte and bailey castle.
The earthworks forming Deddington Castle lie in a rural location to the south-east of the village of Deddington.
During the 18th and 19th centuries Portsmouth Royal Dockyard was the greatest industrial complex in the world, employing over 25,000 workers. The Dockyard Apprentice tells the story of Dockyard life in 1911, when the great Dreadnought battleships were being constructed.
1,000 acres of parkland plus special attractions including miniature railway, Woodland Adventure Playground, dress up and games room, woodland walks, lakes and follies to explore, as well as an entertaining guided tour around the house itself.
St Nicholas Priory was founded in 1087 and was home to Benedictine monks for over 400 years. In 1536, like other monasteries, it was closed and partly demolished by King Henry VIII.
The best known of many Dartmoor prehistoric settlements, Grimspound dates from the late Bronze Age. The remains of 24 houses enclosed within a stone wall, and further houses outside the enclosure, lie in a fold in the hills about 450 metres (1,500 feet) above sea level, between Hookney and Hameldown tors.
The Great North Museum: Hancock will take you on an exciting journey through the story of our planet and its people. The new Museum is bursting with displays, interactives and a planetarium.
Not all of the sites on Hadrian's Wall were heavily guarded fortresses. Corbridge was a supply base and bustling town where the Romans and civilians would pick up food and provisions.
The Checkpoint Charlie Museum is named after the famous crossing point on the Berlin Wall between east and west. It was created to document the so-called "best border security system in the world".
Near Carrawburgh (Brocolitia) fort stands a fascinating temple to the eastern god Mithras, with facsimiles of altars found during excavation. Sited like many Mithraic temples near a military base, it was founded in the 3rd century, and eventually desecrated, probably by Christians. Nearby, but no longer visible, was the shrine of the water nymph Coventina.
Imposing and well-preserved turret with adjoining stretches of Hadrian's Wall.
Turrets west of Birdoswald on the length of Hadrian's Wall. Piper Sike has a cooking-hearth.
One of the best-preserved milecastles on Hadrian's Wall, Poltross includes an oven, a stair to the rampart walk, and the remains of its north gateway.
The foundations of a turret and a 65 metre (213 feet) length of Wall.
A 460-metre (1,509 feet) length of Hadrian's Wall including one turret. Please note: It is not possible for visitors to park here.
A fine stretch of Hadrian's Wall on a steep slope, with turrets and an impressive milecastle, probably built by the Second Legion.
One of the best places of all to see the Wall, dramatically snaking and diving along the crags of the Whin Sill.
A consolidated stretch of Hadrian's Wall, up to 2 metres (61⁄2 feet) thick in places.
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