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 Education...
Set in 150 acres of the spectacular landscape of the Tamar Valley, the
open-air museum at Morwellham Quay is a wonderful resource for educational
groups. The museum encompasses the restored 19th century village, the docks
and quays (complete with restored ships), the George and Charlotte copper
mine, a Victorian farm and the beautiful gardens and nature reserve. A visit
can be useful for teaching many aspects of the curriculum and we can tailor
a visit to suit your needs, examples of different types of visit are listed
below.
Key Stage 1: History How are our toys different
from those in the past?
 Morwellham
has a collection of replica 19th century toys (such as rocking horses, toy
theatres, marbles, cup and ball, whipping tops, etc) which allow the
children to play and learn at the same time. In addition our school
playground area has typical games of the time such as hop-scotch, skittles
and skipping. What were homes like a long time ago?
Specially designed visits for KS1 children allow you to visit three
contrasting Victorian homes and meet some of their inhabitants! "Quay
Cottage" shows how some of the better off residents of Morwellham lived, the
"Lime Kiln Cottage" is that of a prosperous working class family, while the
"Miner's Cottage" is an overcrowded hovel typical of the area in the 1840s
and 1850s. All three houses enable the children to see 19th century
domestic artefacts (such as kitchen ranges, washing coppers, oil and candle
lamps, straw pallets, butter churns, etc) in the context they were designed
for. The whole experience provides a vivid and thought provoking
contrast to modern home life. Key Stage 2: History
What was it like for children living in Victorian Britain?
 Morwellham
is an ideal place for children to explore the lives of their Victorian
counterparts. Our "Past Lives" days give children the chance to enact
the daily lives of Victorian children at Morwellham. Activities
include; Child Labour on the dressing floor, which recreates the rock
breaking and sorting done on the surface at mines; The Assayer's Family,
which looks at life in a middle class household (including the lives of
domestic servants); Life on the Farm; Life at Sea (onboard the ketch
"Garlandstone"); The Ropewalk and The Village School. All this plus a
trip into the "George and Charlotte" copper mine to look at the working lives
of the hard rock miners in the mid 19th century. Key
Stage 2: Geography Village Settlers
A visit to Morwellham will provide a good focus for a study of the
development of a settlement over a period of time. Morwellham's documented history goes
back 800 years to an early 13th century lease which describes the landscape
and settlement in the Tamar Valley in the 1230s. New research is
allowing us to map the features described in the lease and further
documentation allows us to follow the development of the settlement over
the centuries. Finally a series of maps enables us to chart the rapid
expansion of trade and industry at the Quay in the late 18th and early to mid
19th centuries.
 Investigating
rivers (Summer Term Only) Take the train to Calstock
and you will be met by a guide who will walk you down to the Quay to board
the MV Gloria. The voyage upriver to Weir Head allows the children to
observe natural and man-made features on the riverbank and at selected
points the the children will be able to measure the height, depth and speed
of the river. Gloria then returns to Morwellham where the party
disembarks and, after a break for lunch, walks part of the riverside nature
reserve sketching and photographing. This part of the visit could also
be used to study animals and plants of different habitats (Science unit 6A:
Interdependence and adaptation). Key Stage 2: Science
Helping plants to grow well
 A
wide range of vegetables and flowers are grown in Morwellham's terraced
cottage gardens. Our gardener will help the children to identify the
different plants, explain how he prepares the soil before planting and why
weeds have to be controlled. He will also point out how the
south-facing slopes get the most light and thus provide the best conditions
for growing plants Habitats/interdependence and
adaptation Our Nature Reserve walk combines a number
of different habitats including vegetable gardens, wetlands, hay meadows,
cornfields and woodlands. Specially constructed hides with spotter
charts enable children to observe and identify wildlife. Dipping ponds
on the marsh and mini-beast hunts in the meadow allow them to get a closer
look at some of the smaller species. Our farm staff will explain how
human beings modify the landscape to suit the animals we want to keep.
Life cycles Morwellham farm is an ideal site to
look at seed dispersal. Our farm staff will look at the different ways
of sowing seeds and explain how, when the crop is harvested, seeds have to
be kept for sowing the next year's crop. Children can also visit our
hay meadows which are cut late in the season to allow the wild flower seeds
to set. A visit to our terraced cottage garden and glasshouse allows
the children to see seeds germinating and pollination by insects. |
