Field trips for learning history

It might be thought that the best history field trips will be to places where something important happened and where there is plenty of information to be gathered about that event. That is certainly part of the story, but not all of it. Field trips can be made that may not appear at the outset to be particularly interesting, but which can offer a great deal to the learner of history.

The current author was very lucky to be brought up in a part of southern England where history virtually oozed from everywhere around. The field trips he made, both from school and as part of a family group, were very educational and formed a major part of his understanding of the past.

Sites that could be visited in the locality of Wiltshire and Dorset included Stonehenge and Maiden Castle, both of which have world importance as monuments to the distant past, but they were only the tip of a vast historical “iceberg”, given that the legacy from the past in that region includes such things as Stone Age circles and long barrows, Bronze Age round barrows, Iron Age hill forts, and Roman roads and villas. Many of these remains are not set apart as “sites” to be visited in a formal way, with a fee to be paid and a set path to follow, but are just there to be seen at the side of the road or after a short walk.

School trips 

Field trips may be organised by a child’s school or can be undertaken independently under parental guidance. If the latter, the parent may need to do a bit of preparation before the trip is made so that he or she can answer at least some of the questions that will be forthcoming. An alternative is to tag along with any formal school group that may be visiting at the same time, so that the child can overhear what the other children are being told by their teacher or a local expert. However, this should be done discretely, and it might be wise to ask for permission before so doing.

However, the independent field-tripper has the advantage of not being tied down to the schedule of a school party. He or she can explore the site as he or she wishes, and the trip should be organised as an event that encourages play and discovery as opposed to being nothing but instruction.

The author once accompanied his son on a school field trip that ran late, such that the time for exploration had to be sacrificed to allow for the formal lesson that had been planned in advance. All the children did was pour off the bus, go straight into a classroom where they were duly lectured about what was on the site, and then have about 15 minutes to eat their sandwiches before being ushered back on to the bus for the return journey. They might as well not have made the trip at all! A child without these constraints would have been able to spend the time exploring and discovering, with all the formal stuff catered for by some judicious Web surfing afterwards, or maybe reading the guidebook bought at the gift shop before leaving.

Castles and battlefields

Sites that always excite children, of virtually any age, are castles and battlefields. Many castles in the United Kingdom can trace their origin back to Norman times, and their story is long and complicated, with many changes and additions being made down the centuries. Children love exploring passageways and stairs, especially if these lead to unexpected places. Many castles are partially ruined, which gives plenty of scope for imagination as to how the buildings would have looked in the past.

Castles are ideal for exploration by parent-led children because a formal school group is often too large for the children to be able to get to grips with what they are seeing. A teacher may be able to point out something interesting to the two or three children closest at hand, but his or her words will be lost to those who are several turns down the spiral staircase!

It is often worth checking in advance to see if there is a special event being planned at a castle, because these are often extremely valuable in educational terms. A reconstruction of an event that took place at the castle, or displays by re-enactment groups of how people lived in the past, bring history to life in a way that cannot be bettered.

Battlefield sites enable children to see exactly where the events that shaped history took place, and they can visualise what happened by relating the landscape to the history. Many such sites have been preserved, not just in the United Kingdom but many other countries, and nothing beats witnessing a re-enactment of a battle, with authentic uniforms and weapons, in the place where it was fought hundreds of years ago.

Archaeology

History can be learned in all sorts of ways, and it is not necessarily the history of great people and events. For example, if an archaeological dig is taking place locally it might be worth asking if one’s child could visit and even take a small part in the process of historical discovery.

In 2009 the villagers of Kibworth, near Leicester, took part in a project to discover more about their history by digging trenches in their own back gardens, over a single weekend, the results being coordinated and plotted. A total of 55 pits were dug at locations throughout the area. The finds included items that had been lost and discarded by their predecessors centuries before, such as coins and pieces of pottery, and this single exercise enabled local historians to get a very good picture of how people lived in the past, such as where they farmed and had their dwellings.

The Kibworth experiment was notable for the huge interest shown by people of all ages, including children, who then became keen to learn more about the history of their village. A history field trip need take one no further than one’s own back garden!

Urban field trips

Urban dwellers need not feel deprived in terms of field trips. The city landscape is full of evidence of how lives were lived in past centuries. There is much to be learned from looking at both public buildings and private dwellings. For example, it was the custom in past times to place dates on houses, and from this one can plot how a town or city grew and which areas would have been populated before others. There are clues to how people earned their livings, such as the large upper-storey windows that allowed home-based weavers enough light to do their work.

Statues and commemorative plaques are worth looking out for, as these tell stories about the people who lived here and were thought important enough to be honoured.

Ecclesiastical buildings offer field trips in their own right, as their growth and decline are evidence of how populations have developed. Churchyards and cemeteries can tell all sorts of stories, such as indicating the life-spans of past generations, showing what size families tended to be, and the incidence of infant mortality. A mass grave may tell a story about a disaster that befell a community, such as a cholera outbreak or a mining accident.

The transport infrastructure, in both urban and rural settings, is another source of historical evidence that can be explored. Street patterns, and names, can provide a lot of information about past lives and the shapes of communities, as can the routes of railways and canals, whether or not they are still in use.

In short, the landscape and the changes made to it by mankind are an abiding and available source of historical information that is waiting to be discovered by the possessors of enquiring minds. What counts as “best” in terms of historical field trips must depend on local circumstances and the period of history under study.

© John Welford