Roadschool Trip to Jorvik & York Castle

 

The period referred to as the Viking Age dates from around AD 800 to 1050. Wherever they lived, the Viking-age Scandinavians shared common features such as house forms, jewelry, tools, and other everyday equipment. When the Vikings settled in York, they clearly had trouble saying the Saxon name for the city: Eoforwic (which is thought to mean wild boar settlement), so decided to call it Jorvik (thought to mean wild boar creek).

The Vikings had been raiding the coasts of England from the late 8th century, but in 865 a Viking army landed with the intention of conquering rather than just raiding. The Vikings dominated York from the late Stⁿ century until the Norman Conquest. One of the more famous rulers from this era was kthelwold, was the son of /Ethelred, the king of Wessex in the mid to late 9^th century. Alfred the Great became king from this line.

Jorvik was part of a busy international trading system, with thriving workshops, and well-established mints. However, throughout Viking-age Scandinavia, the main occupation was the production of food. Farming, fishing, and trapping were important community activities, and the people were largely self-sufficient. This was possible due to the fertile soils, good pasture, and well-stocked fishing grounds of the area.

Raiding and pillaging were a large part of Viking history. When a Viking sacked a monastery, he literally hit the jackpot since the local magnates used them for personal storage centers. These religious centers were also where imported goods,

including wine, textiles, produce, and raw materials from surrounding lands, were exchanged.  By the end of the 7t^h century, Christianity had been established in Northumbria. The arrival of the pagan Vikings seemed to have little effect on the Christian religion, with the incoming Scandinavians converting to Christianity within a few decades of their arrival and largely adopting local burial customs, however there are stone crosses and grave markers — such as the Hogback gravestone - that introduced Scandinavian motifs to the designs and instituted new forms.

York Castle is a fortified complex in the city of York. The complex includes castles, prisons, courts, and other buildings which were built over the last nine centuries on the River Foss. While most of the complex is no longer standing, the medieval Normal castle keep ruins are commonly known as Clifford's Tower, which still stands today.

York was a Viking capital city in the 10t^h and 11t^h centuries. In 1068, on William the Conqueror's first northern expedition after the Norman Conquest, he built several castles across the north-east of England, including one at York.

In 1190, York Castle was the location of one of the worst pogroms in England during the medieval period. English Jews were subject to considerable religious prejudice and primarily worked from towns and cities in which there was a local royal castle that could provide them with protection in the event of attacks from the majority Christian population.

By the 13t^h century, there was a well-established system of castle guards in place, under which various lands around York were granted in return for the provision of knights to protect the castle. King John used York Castle extensively during his reign, using the keep as his personal quarters for his own security. When the Military Order of the Knights Templar was dissolved in England in 1307, York Castle was used to hold many of the arrested knights.

In the 15th century, York Castle fell into increasing disrepair. Richard III recognized the problem, and in 1483 he had some of the most decrepit structures removed, but he died at the Battle of Bosworth Field before the work to replace those could begin. By the 16th century, it had become traditional to execute traitors by hanging them from the top of Clifford's Tower.

The deterioration of York Castle continued into the reign of Elizabeth I, and Robert Redhead, the tower keeper, became infamous at the time for taking pieces of the castle and selling off the stonework for his own profit. By the 18t^h century, the Female Prison and county jail were combined to become the Debtors' Prison.

Kirkgate is a recreated Victorian street which has become the most iconic part of York Castle Museum. The street is one of the oldest recreated indoor streets of its kind in the world and the first to be opened in Britain. Each shop and business on Kirkgate is named after a real business that operated in late Victorian York. Some shops, like Banks Music and Sessions Printers, are names still operating today; others are within living memory for many residents, like Leak and Thorp Drapers shop.

Some of the shops sold to the rich, like George Britton's grocers, importers of fine teas and coffees; others like Thomas Ambler's grocers to the working class. Some did both —John Saville, Pharmaceutical Chemist, would sell to leading citizens but also worked as a surrogate doctor to the poor. An alleyway off Kirkgate, called Rowntree Snicket, aims to portray the poverty of Victorian York. It includes a working class  home and was inspired by a famous survey of York's poor.

York Castle Museum is housed in 18th century prison buildings. Inside you can experience the crooked prison and meet their most notorious prisoner: the legendary highwayman, Dick Turpin. York Castle Prison focuses on the lives of eight former inmates, including the last woman to be burnt at the stake in Yorkshire, a Luddite, a notorious turnkey, a man who was beaten so badly in prison he died, and a young tearaway who went on to lead a successful life in Australia.

Learn more about Norse Mythology here!

Craft ideas:

• DIY Viking Costumes
• Viking helmet
• Viking shield
• Viking longship
• Arctic animals craft
• Sugar cube igloos craft 

Vikings & the Arctic Circle Resources

• Seabird unit study & Seabird
• Vikings unit study
• Viking Adventure
• Usborne Time Traveler
• Viking Ships At Sunrise & Writing Pack
• Viking Tales
• Early Explorers (elementary)
• Early Explorers (preschool - K)
• The Usborne Book of Explorers from Columbus to Armstrong
• Viking Voyages board game (older kids)

Pick up activities and worksheets to augment your real or virtual trip in the unit study bundle below!

Explore the art, history, geography, food, and culture of England in this cross-curricular unit study….perfect for families getting ready to travel abroad or folks who want to travel via unit studies!  Each stop along the roadschooling trip covers a different facet of history and culture with unit information, resources, worksheets, activities, and more...  

YES!  I want 122 pages of FUN STUDIES!

Table of Contents:

• o Introduction & Geography of England
• o Portsmouth
  • o The Mary Rose & naval archaeology
• o London
  • o The British Museum & archaeology
  • o The Wallace Collection & medieval history
  • o The Tower of London / London Bridge & the Tudors
  • o Buckingham Palace & royalty
  • o Victoria and Albert Museum & medieval art
  • o Thames / Globe Theater & Shakespeare
  • o Sherlock Holmes Museum & British Literature
  • o Abbey Road & British Invasion
• o Leeds
  • o Royal Armouries & middle ages
• o York
  • o Jorvik & Vikings
  • o York Castle & archaeology
• o Haltwhistle
  • o Hadrian’s Wall & ancient Celts
  • o Vindolanda & archaeology
• o Alnwick
  • o Alnwick Castle & architecture
  • o Poison Garden & herbs
  • o Barter Books & WW2 history
• o Alnmouth
  • o North Sea & train history
• o Newcastle o Segedunum & ancient Romans
• o Tips & Tricks for Travelling in England