Oystermouth Castle sits majestically on the hill in Mumbles with stunning views overlooking Swansea Bay.
Come and explore parts of the castle that have been hidden away for centuries, and learn about the castle's exciting history.
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
The site provides Insight into rural Scottish life 200 years ago. Housing one of Scotland's finest folk collections, this museum shows exactly how the country's rural workforce used to live. Children can experience a Victorian classroom, see how people lived and worked, and dress up in traditional costumes. Groups will be split into small groups of no more than 10 pupils.
Windsor Castle, an official residence of The Queen and one of her favourite homes, is the oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world. Since the building of a wooden fortress here at the time of William the Conqueror, the Castle has been transformed over the centuries into a splendid palace, while still retaining much evidence of its turbulent past.
Stunning views from the top of the barrow
Coldrum Longbarrow is the least-damaged megalithic longbarrow in Kent and takes its name from the now demolished Coldrum Lodge Farm.
Witness two opposing kings - Robert the Bruce and Edward II - whose tactics in 1314 changed the path of Scotland's history, forever.
Located at the western tip of the Ardmeanach peninsula on the island of Mull, this nature reserce is recognised as a National Scenic Area and a Special Area of Conservation, but is probably best known for being home to MacCulloch's fossil tree. Ranger-led activities to meet curriculum requirements can be organised by arrangement.
Shirehall Museum is in a 16th century building that was built as a hostel for important visitors to the Augustinian priory next door. In the 1770s it became Walsingham’s court house and the court room, which was in use until 1971, is still intact.
The Tenement House provides a rare glimpse into life in Glasgow in the early 20th century, in the faithfully restored four-room house lived in by Miss Agnes Toward for over half a century.
School visits must be booked in advance by telephoning the property. Weekday mornings (March to October) are available for visits by school groups and other large parties.
Rainton Meadows is a nature reserve just to the east of East Rainton, Sunderland.
Powderham Castle is located in a unique, picturesque setting just outside Exeter, beside the Exe estuary. Six hundred years of history are contained within the walls of one of England's oldest family homes. Sir Philip Courtenay began building it in 1391 and it has remained in the same family to this day, currently home to the 18th Earl & Countess of Devon.
High sandstone ridge and hill fort overlooking dramatic red sandstone rock houses
Kinver's woodland sandstone ridge offers dramatic views across surrounding counties and miles of heathland walking country. The famous Holy Austin Rock Houses, which were inhabited until the 1950s, are open to visitors at selected times.
Learning
It was in this house that Thomas Carlyle, the great Scottish social historian and one of Britain's most influential writers and thinkers, was born in 1795.
Many of Carlyle's belongings are still in situ, along with domestic items of the time, providing an authentic glimpse into Victorian life and a fascinating insight into Thomas Carlyle's early years.
Guarding Dartmouth for over 600 years!
One of the most beautifully located fortresses in England. For over 600 years Dartmouth Castle has guarded the narrow entrance to the Dart Estuary and the busy, vibrant port of Dartmouth. It offers stunning views of the estuary and out to sea and offers a great family day out, whatever the weather.
Explore 'the last castle to be built in England' as the project to save it from certain ruin continues
The 'last castle to be built in England', set above the Teign Gorge with dramatic views over Dartmoor.
Commissioned by retail tycoon Julius Drewe, and designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the castle harks back to a romantic past, while its brilliant design heralds the modern era.
The only surviving remains in England of a priory of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre, who aided pilgrims to Christ's tomb: the ruined nave of their 14th century church, later used as a barn.
The Priory of the Holy Sepulchre was founded in about 1148 by William de Warenne, as home to a community of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre.
Llanmelin is an Iron Age hillfort located just over a mile (2km) north-west of Caerwent Roman Town, between Newport and Chepstow. Traditionally, Llanmelin was thought to be the tribal centre of the Silures before the Romans arrived, but there is no strong evidence to support this idea.
Stuffed to the turrets with antique furniture, paintings and ceramics, the legacy of generations of Clan Brodie, this 16th-century castle is a slice of Scottish history not to be missed.
Stone-built house of Elizabethan origin
Originally an Elizabethan house, Morville Hall was extensively enlarged and expanded around 1750, giving it the appearance of a Georgian home.
Look out for interesting and quirky Elizabethan features of the original house. Wander through to the back of the house where a flight of elegant stone steps lead down to a beautiful garden.
Raglan, with its great multi-angular towers, handsome majesty and Tudor-styling, is unlike any other castle in Wales.
This fairytale castle, a fine example of Scottish Baronial architecture, seems to have grown naturally out of the rolling hills. The great tower stands just as it did when completed in 1626. The castle is home to a fine collection of family portraits and original plaster ceilings.
One of the most beautiful and oldest villages in Kent
One of the prettiest villages in Kent, and perhaps England, Chiddingstone is a beautiful example of a Tudor one-street village.
Hidden away in the rural idyll of East Linton resides an architectural oddity beloved by artists and photographers.
Preston Mill, with its distinctive Dutch style conical-roof, was East Lothian's last working water mill.
Tudor house with superb collections, garden, quay and estate
Cotehele was the ancestral home to the Edgcumbe family for centuries. The Tudor house, perched high above the River Tamar, is decorated with tapestries, arms and armour, pewter, brass and old oak furniture. The interior tour has changed little over the years, although the furnishings were titivated as Cotehele continued to inspire its adoring owners.
The Castle of Exeter stands atop the highest part of the city, within the north-east angle of the city walls. From the reddish colour of the volcanic rock on which it stood, it became known locally as Rougemont Castle.
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