The Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum is housed in two towers of Caernarfon Castle. In it you will discover the history of over 300 years of service by Wales’s oldest infantry.
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 [email protected].
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
A museum set in a remarkable building that holds an extensive collection that covers the many aspects of life and social history in Bishop’s Castle and the surrounding area. Free to visit. Restricted opening times as run by volunteers.
A perfect environment for schools wanting to explore the great outdoors!
Located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in North Wales, Colomendy is the perfect environment for 7-11 year olds to explore the great outdoors
Breath-taking adventure park nestled in woodlands with a giant zipwire, climbing tower and an abundance of ropes courses
On-site watersports including canoeing, kayaking and raft-building
If you are visiting nearby Stourhead then why not walk half a mile or so to see one of the great follies of the UK.
Where Charles Darwin Lived and Worked
With its unique place in the history of science, Down House, the home of Victorian scientist Charles Darwin (1809–82), is one of the major visitor attractions in the South East. Down House was Darwin's home from 1842 until his death 40 years later.
A charming small museum with collections of agricultural and domestic tools from Lynton and Exmoor. Also maritime, railway, and natural history. Unique pictures of the Lynmouth Flood, and a Victorian dolls' house.
Housed in Lynton's oldest surviving domestic dwelling, it even includes its own ghost!
Natural History
A magnificent Tudor merchant’s house
This beautiful building has been home to merchants and mayors through the ages. A museum since 1900, its stunning Tudor and Stuart interiors now house rich furnishings and textiles that give a real feel for the day to day life of its wealthy former owners.
Neolithic and Iron Age site rich in wildlife, offering sweeping views of surrounding countryside
Discover an unusually designed Iron Age hill fort, containing a smaller central, possibly Neolithic, enclosure. Enjoy the exceptional views from the ramparts over Salisbury Plain, Old Sarum and Salisbury Cathedral. The ramparts also act as a refuge for unusual plants.
This remarkable small museum is home to many diverse collections of items made from straw including marquetry, embroidery, straw stars, Swiss straw lace and dyed straw marquetry.
There are also examples of other crafts such as quilling, tatting and beadwork. Owner, Ella Carstairs, will be happy to give you demonstrations of straw marquetry and quilling.
His place of birth, home, influence and inspiration
Welcome to Shrewsbury – the birthplace of Charles Robert Darwin: naturalist, explorer and true Salopian.
St Mary's Hospital is home to the Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum. The laboratory where Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin has been restored to its cramped condition of 1928 and incorporated into a museum about the discovery and his life and work. It is open to the public from Monday to Thursday from 10am to 1pm and can be visited by appointment outside of these times.
With so much to see and do, a trip to Belsay is one of the best value family days out in north-east England. Explore the medieval castle, the Grecian inspired Hall and acres of impressive gardens.
Step back to the 1770s at poet William Wordsworth’s childhood home
Wordsworth House and Garden, in the Cumbrian town of Cockermouth, is the birthplace and childhood home of romantic poet William and his sister Dorothy.
It is presented as it would have been when they lived here with their parents, three brothers and servants in the 1770s.
17th-century manor house with romantic, intimate gardens
Come and explore East Riddlesden Hall, home of 17th century cloth merchant James Murgatroyd. See the changes he made and discover why his work was never completed.
For generations, this estate was a hive of farming activity; producing enough milk, cheese and bread to adequately supply the household and its workers.
The Deepest Nuclear Bunker in the South of England
Come and witness the three lives of the bunker starting with its role as an RAF ROTOR Station, then a brief period as a civil defence centre through to its most recent life as a Regional Government HQ.
Originally a medieval castle but converted into a stately palace, Kimbolton Castle was the family seat of the Dukes of Manchester. It now houses Kimbolton School.
A collection of perambulators; strollers; and sundry curious conveyances
What should you look for at the Pram Museum?
In a word, it's wheels! wheels! and wheels! Well . . . it's actually wheels and axles and the frame. It doesn't matter how cute the bears-and-bunnies print is if a wheel falls off in the middle of the street, or the frame collapses without warning with your 23-month-old in the stroller.
The Foundling Museum explores the history of the Foundling Hospital, the UK’s first children’s charity, and first public art gallery, and celebrates the ways in which artists of all disciplines have helped improve children’s lives for over 270 years.
1930s-style garden, with herbaceous borders, cottage garden and lily pond
Did you know?
Dorneywood is traditionally the country residence of a senior member of the Government, usually a Secretary of State or Minister of the Crown. It was given to us by Lord Courtauld-Thomson and it is administered by the Dorneywood Trust.
Useful information
Dorneywood is open on selected summer dates.
13th-century monastic barn
One of Europe's oldest timber-framed buildings, it has a cathedral-like interior and is linked to a local Cistercian abbey.
Inside the barn hosts an exhibition of local woodcarving, tools and a collection of agricultural carts.
Set a mere four miles from Stonehenge, Netheravon Dovecote is a charming yet practical building - and an excellent example of an early 18th century dovecote. It still retains most of its original 700 chalk nesting boxes.
An ancient hill fort with views over the Otter Valley
An impressive Iron Age hill fort, Dumpdon sits on one of the largest and most striking hills in the beautiful Otter Valley.
The climb is well worth the effort, offering fantastic views of the surrounding area. Explore these impressive defensive earthworks before visiting the mysterious small beech forest behind.
Houghton House today is the shell of a 17th century mansion commanding magnificent views, reputedly the inspiration for the ‘House Beautiful’ in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.
Explore the history of medicine. Be terrified by our death masks and find out what an amputation looked like in the 19th century! Stop at the apothecary for a cholera remedy and have a go at our mystery object game.
Pages
Featured Provider
The Bushcraft Company offer residential school trips with a difference, taking students into the wild and giving them real back-to-nature experiences they will never forget.
Login/Sign Up
Latest News
Schoolboy Falls From 60ft Cliff on School Trip
A 15-year-old boy fell 60ft over the edge of a cliff whilst on a geography school trip, miraculously only suffering minor injuries.