Tag Archives: Victorian

Ashley Down

Victorian resources (these were created for St Michael-on-the-Mount Primary School, but contain generic content that can be applied elsewhere).

In Victorian times, Ashley Down was just fields, set some distance outside the city. It was for this very reason that George Muller chose the top of Ashley Hill for the site of his new, larger orphanage following complaints of rowdiness from neighbours at the Wilson Street orphanage in St Pauls. Muller, a devout Christian, reputedly never directly asked for financial assistance, but believed that any donations were in answer to his prayers and evidence that there was a God.

An original orphanage uniform kept in a box at City of Bristol College
An original orphanage uniform kept in a box at City of Bristol College

As part of the Heritage Schools initiative, we took pupils from nearby primary schools, Glenfrome and Horfield to explore the site of the orphanage (now part of City of Bristol College). Local Learning helped pupils to identify the building’s numerous original features, and to understand the grim alternatives to life in the orphanage. With the help of a graduate from the University of the West of England, each pupil was provided with a profile from a child who had lived at the orphanage and, assuming that persona, Local Learning helped supported pupils in writing a prayer or persuasive speech to encourage the Victorian middle classes to write a substantial cheque to help subsidise George Muller’s plans.

http://www.mullers.org/museum

Totterdown

Victorian resources (these were created for St Michael-on-the-Mount Primary School, but contain generic content that can be applied elsewhere).

Totterdown is home to some of Bristol’s most iconic terraced streets, appropriately named, perched on steep hillsides high above Temple Meads Station. Many of Totterdown’s first residents worked on the railways.

Year 2 at Hillcrest Primary School
Year 2 at Hillcrest Primary School recreating School Road in 1901

A Heritage Schools project involved Local Learning working with Hillcrest Primary School, climbing the hills to find out more about the streets and houses and the people who lived in them at the end of the Victorian period. Year 2 students identified patterns indicating the different styles of the builders and produced their own house designs.

“Thank you so much for the work you did with the Year 2 children. They loved it and learnt so much.”

Kim Lamb, Heritage Schools co-ordinator, Hillcrest Primary