Roadschool Trip to Leeds: Royal Armouries

The Royal Armouries is Britain's oldest public museum and traces its roots to the Tower of London. The collection is split across three UK sites — Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds; its ancestral home at the Tower of London; and Fort Nelson near Portsmouth. It is also the only UK museum to have a permanent presence in the US at the Frazier History Museum in Louisville, Kentucky.

If you have a chance to visit the museum, be sure to stop in the rock garden on the top floor, where you can see the city of Leeds and experience a peaceful moment of rest!

Once an important part of England's military organization, the museum is one of the oldest museums, and also one of the largest collections of arms and armour, in the world.

The Office of the Armoury grew out of the department known as the King's Privy Wardrobe at the Tower of London in the mid-15th century. Overseen from 1423 by the Master of the King's Armour, in the White Tower, the Office was responsible for manufacturing armour and edged weapons for the monarch and his armies; it functioned alongside the Office of Ordinance, which had responsibility for firearms.

Our teen took a notebook and pen, as well as a folding yardstick, to the museum to get accurate measurements and descriptions of various pieces of historic armour for his blacksmithing / swordsmithing business. Sparks Forge &  Armory is a small business where he creates beautiful, accurate, and detailed historical reproduction crossbows, scabbards, swords, daggers, maille (chainmail), armor, and other medieval artifacts. Each piece is hand made and unique!

Visit Sparks Forge & Armory's website to discover the history of each unique piece as it is crafted. Follow the Facebook Page for the Artefacts of the Week!

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