Investigating Pontefract Castle



KS3 Teaching resource
Pontefract Castle has a rich, varied and, sometimes, gruesome history. The relationship between the castle and the town is a great subject for a local study. The castle recently received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and other contributors to improve physical, intellectual and emotional access to the site. This opens up opportunities for local schools to find out not only about the history of the castle but also how heritage is shared and interpreted with a wider audience.
This resource explores the significance of Pontefract Castle and the importance of historical enquiry in informing research, conservation, maintenance and interpretation of scheduled monuments now and for future generations. It has been structured to support a term’s work including two visits to Pontefract Castle. Aimed at teachers of history at Key Stage 3, the resource contains activities for students. The resource provides:
  • Background information for teachers
  • Session notes and activities for students
  • PowerPoint presentations
  • A timeline
  • Visual resources (illustrations, paintings, photographs showing the castle at various times in its history
  • Video clips talking heads of an actor performing John De Lacy and Nathan Drake
  • Documents from the Key to the North HLF project
  • Sources of further information
  • Opportunities to engage with the team at Pontefract Castle


About Pontefract Castle

Edward I described Pontefract Castle as the ‘Key to the North’ but, more recently, local people referred to it as the forest. The once impressive site had become so overgrown that few people realised it was the site of an internationally significant scheduled monument. The castle’s story can be traced through:
  • The Saxons
  • The Normans
  • The Harrying of the North
  • The War of the Roses
  • The Civil War
  • Liquorice growing
  • Victorian leisure pursuits
  • Its impact on the structure and development of the town
  • Local studies that unveil a national and international narrative.
The castle is entering an exciting new phase where investment will ensure:
  • The fabric of the castle will be made safe and more accessible physically.
  • A programme of engagement, activities and events will make the castle more accessible emotionally and intellectually.


Learning outcomes
The activities provided are designed to:
  • Inspire students’ curiosity to know more about the past
  • Equip students to:
    • Ask perceptive questions
    • Think critically
    • Weigh evidence
    • Sift arguments
    • Develop perspective and judgement.

  

The theme and how it links to the National Curriculum


 This resource is built around the theme of significance. Students will be encouraged to investigate a hypothesis:
Throughout history, the people of Pontefract have had the castle they deserve.
This approach will enable many aims of the new national curriculum to be delivered:

  • know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world
  • know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
  • gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’
  • understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
  • understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed 
  • gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.