History Trip to Skipton Castle

Year 7 girls and boys mount an attack on Skipton Castle!

All Year 7 girls and boys went on their first educational visit in the Senior School to Skipton with the almost impossible mission to work out how to attack the medieval castle.   This was in preparation for group presentations in their history lessons.   The pupils listened very carefully to their guides, gathering crucial information about the strengths and weaknesses of the castle.   They noted down some interesting historical terms such as crellenations, curtain walls, arrow loops and most worrying of all – murder holes!   A very tense moment was also spent in the pitch black of the castle dungeon.   The screams nearly shattered the thousand year old stone walls!  

Skipton Castle was also used as a home during Tudor times and pupils were fascinated to hear stories about how people lived and worked at the time.   History is always best when it comes alive, and the Skipton Castle trip certainly provided Westholme’s pupils with lots of information for their projects and surely excited their imaginations.   It was certainly a most valuable and fun learning experience for our young historians.