Last Thursday, the whole school went on their annual school tour to the Heritage Park in Co. Wexford.
During our time at the Heritage Park, we did the following!
We met Danni, our tour guide, who taught us so much during our time with her.
We travelled through various sites on our tour starting from about 7000BC all the way up to the Viking Invasion
Here we see a typical boat which our ancestors would have travelled in thousands of years ago!
This is also a typical settlement which the first settlers in Ireland would have built and lived in over 9000 years ago!
We then moved on to the next settlement which was about 3000 years later, when the first farmers came to Ireland! This time in history is called the Neolithic Period.
They built bigger houses and they grew crops and rared animals such as pigs and sheep.
We had the privilege of meeting their on-site pigs,”Rashers” and “Sausages”!!
Next, the children saw a dolmen from the Megalithic period in History. The boulders they used were so heavy that they had to move them by rolling them on top of logs.
In the photograph below, the children had to work together to move a boulder which is thankfully on wheels. After much pushing and pulling, the trolley did move a few inches for us!!
The next stage in History we explored was the Bronze Age which was about 4000 years ago. Did you know that copper and gold were the first metals used in Ireland? Below is a stone circle which may have been used for religious ceremonies during this time in History.
The children also got to see a “fulacht fiadh” which is a cooking pit in History. They were in use from 1500 B.C. up to medieval times. The most common theory is that meat, particularly venison, was placed in water in the pit, stones were heated in fires and then thrown into the pit to cook the meat.
Finally, about 1500 years ago, Christianity came to Ireland. Christianity was based around monasteries like the one shown below.
Following our tour through these settlements, the children participated in a brass rubbing workshop back in the Heritage Centre.
Our final port of call on our school tour was Eddie Rockets & KBowl in Kilkenny!
Well done everybody on yet another successful tour!
It was a great school tour and the children were so well behaved. Many leaders at the various activities commented on their great manners. Thank you Ms. Wilson for organising a great tour!
Brings back memories.
I remember teaching tourists how to do brass rubbings in Salisbury Cathedral. It was a great day for all the kids, my two really enjoyed it, thank you