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:

The Historical Association

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Inclusion: NASEN

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

Bannockburn Heritage Centre

The National Trust for Scotland

Youth Hostels Association

Historic Scotland

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

Venues for this Curriculum

One of England’s greatest treasures

The cemetery contains the much-visited tomb of Karl Marx (d. 1883), painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti's wife Elizabeth Siddal (d. 1862) - whose grave he famously had opened in 1869 to retrieve a book of poems he has placed in her coffin - and pioneer film-maker William Friese-Greene (d. 1921). Dog-show founder Charles Cruft (d. 1938), actor Sir Ralph Richardson (d. 1983) and comedian Max Wall (d.

Jacobean-style house with gardens and a working watermill

A passion for tradition and impressing guests inspired one man to transform a run-down country house and desolate landscape.

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.

A journey of real science through 19th Century Physics

A guide around the packed shelves of our museum va laser pointer, demonstrating some of the more interesting instruments. Featuring the development of the Electro-static generator, the Wimshurst Machine and the accessories that could be used with it.

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.

Ruin of a 14th-century Carthusian priory

Set amid woodland in North Yorkshire, this unusual monastery is the best preserved Carthusian priory in Britain.

Mount Grace Priory is the perfect tourist attraction for a relaxing and peaceful day out. Discover how the monks lived 600 years in the reconstructed monk’s cell and herb plot. 

Impressive working 18th-century watermill

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.

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.

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.

The rural retreat of T. E. Lawrence

'I've a hut in a wood near camp wherein I spend my spare evenings' - the words of the legendary Lawrence of Arabia, about Clouds Hill.

A Neolithic earthwork henge, one of many in this area, dating from about 2000 BC, but much later believed to be King Arthur's jousting arena. Mayburgh Henge is nearby.

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.

An outstanding display of English medieval carpentry, this mighty timber-framed barn is the largest cruck structure in Britain.

Built for Pershore Abbey in about 1325, it is over 42 metres (140 feet) long, with 18 cruck blades each made from a single oak tree. 

There were once other farm buildings and houses, and the abbot himself is known to have sometimes resided here.

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.

Two ornamental gateways, once part of Portsmouth's defences.

King James's Gate (of 1687) has been moved, but Landport Gate (1760), once the principal entrance to Portsmouth and possibly based on a design by Nicholas Hawksmoor, remains in its original position.

The home of one of the most remarkable men of the 20th century

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.

This 16th century gatehouse, one of the latest monastic buildings in England, displays a richly sculpted mullioned window.

It is the sole survivor of this Cistercian abbey. 

All that now remains of the abbey is the early 16th century gatehouse with a range of precinct wall on each side, although there are signs of earthworks in the surrounding fields.

Outstanding 400-year-old Cotswold market hall

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.

16th-century half-timbered dovecote

The last remnant of a former medieval monastic grange, this curious crooked dovecote sits prettily in the Worcestershire countryside.

Surviving virtually unaltered since the late 16th century, the picturesque dovecote, retains many of its nesting boxes and original features.

Falkirk Archives is located in the oak-panelled Victorian library of Callendar House, and is the place to come to find out about the history of Falkirk district or to start your family history research. Local archives and photographs are held here, and may be viewed by the public.

We are home to an extraordinary range of documents, images, maps, films and books about London. On this site you can find out about the archives we hold, and get practical advice on how to use them.

17th-century manor house

Elegant 17th-century manor house with a beautiful carved staircase rebuilt in approximately 1650 on an ancient site. The house is surrounded by approximately 25 acres of grounds. It is open to the public on a limited basis by arrangement with the tenant.

Glamorgan Archives collects, preserves and makes accessible documents relating to the geographical area it serves, as detailed in its collection policy, and maintains the corporate memory of its constituent authorities

We can help you to....
- trace the history of your family, your town, village or house
- carry out research for a school, college or evening course

The Media Archive for Central England (MACE) is the screen archive for the Midlands.

Connect with the culture and history of the Midlands through film, videotape and digital moving images. View over 4,000 clips from a library of 45,000 titles.

The purpose of the Cromwell Museum is to interpret Oliver Cromwell's life and legacy through portraits, documents and objects associated with Cromwell. Impressively impartial!

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