YEAR 1 TRIP TO BLISTS HILL
Victorian Town
On Friday 25th May, year 1 went to Blists Hill Victorian Town, which provided the children with an enjoyable experience linked to their History topic; ‘Homes a long time ago.’ During the day 1C and 1H explored Victorian houses, shops and factories. A memorable part of the day was watching costumed demonstrators undertake domestic chores.
The ‘hands on’ laundry experience fascinated the children and stimulated their curiosity to both ask and answer questions.
Scrapping the soap in Victorian times
made our equivalent soap powder.
The tongs prevented hands from
getting burnt in the hot water.
It was harder work using the wooden dolly to spin and clean the clothes, rather then using a present day electric washing machine!
It was surprising to see how much water the mangle managed to squeeze from the clothes!
The mangle helped to dry out the clothes, but pegging them on the washing line remains the same today when completely drying clothes!
Visiting the bank to exchange £2 worth of modern money for pre-decimal ‘token’ pennies, halfpennies, farthings and threepenny bits coins gave the children a feel of late nineteenth-century values.
Barnaby Bear found the Blists Hill bank fascinating as it was his first visit to the museum.
Spending some of our ‘token’ coins in the
‘sweet shop’ was a highlight of the day!
The children were surprised at the many services the chemist provided; medicine, herbal remedies, toiletries, but even veterinary items were displayed! People would also come to the chemist to see the visiting dentist and optician.
There was a vast array of goods to view in the Grocer’s shop such as, dried foodstuffs, meat, tinned goods, luxury items, brushes, cookery items etc.
The containers on the top shelf were filled with tea.
Both classes met up to discuss over lunch some of the fascinating sights and activities they had experienced.
The ‘squatter’s cottage’ was originally built around 1825. In 1861 8 people inhabited this small cottage with only 2 rooms.
The ‘range’ was at the centre of the home providing a ‘range’ of essential things. These include heating water for the bath and tea, cooking the food, heating the irons.
The children were shocked with
the cramped sleeping conditions
The Tollhouse provided a more comfortable standard of living. The garden was an important area for growing edible plants.
The Tollhouse has 4 rooms. The children are standing in the ‘best room’, which had bars up the window to help protect the money which was collected from travellers using the road.
The children spotted the dolly and mangle outside the Tollhouse and had the opportunity of putting their skills from the workshop into practise!
The children were impressed with the parlour in the Doctor’s cottage and this provided them with an interesting comparison to the other 2 houses seen.
The year 1 children were great ambassadors for the school today and made their teachers very proud with their polite manners and good listening skills. Many thanks also to the teaching assistants and parent helpers who were the ‘icing on the cake’ and helped to make our day truly magical!