Resource created by Kirklees Museums and Galleries

 

Curriculum links:

• KS2 History: “The Roman Empire and its impact on Britain” 

 

Context: 

The history of Kirklees is part of the bigger story of how people lived in Britain thousands of years ago. After the last Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago, the first people arrived in what is now Kirklees. Like others across Britain in the Mesolithic period, they were hunter-gatherers, living in camps and using flint tools. 

Later, during the Neolithic period, people across Britain, including Kirklees, began farming and settling. Places like Castle Hill show signs of early farming life. 

By the Bronze Age, people were using metal tools, and burial sites appear in the local landscape. In the Iron Age, powerful hillforts like Castle Hill were built, showing how Kirklees fit into the changing life of prehistoric Britain. 

 

Learning objectives:  

• Identify key characteristics of prehistoric life in Kirklees 

• Describe the development of Castle Hill, Almondbury, and its significance in local history 

• Explain how the Bronze Age and Iron Age peoples in Kirklees adapted to environmental and social changes 

 

Discussion and Activity Ideas: 

• Literacy: Write a short paragraph describing how people lived at Castle Hill during the Iron Age 

• Reading: As a class, read The Wild Way Home by Sophie Kirtley 

• Disciplinary Skills: Examine prehistoric tools and make inferences about how these tools were used and what life was like for people at the time 

• Art: Create a model or drawing of Castle Hill’s hillfort, including its banks and timber buildings. Use natural materials like sticks and clay if possible 

• Heritage is… 

Citizenship: How might leadership or decision-making have worked in these early societies without formal governments? 

Democracy: What are the benefits and challenges of making decisions as a group versus having a single leader? 

British Values: Early humans in Kirklees were nomadic at first, moving to find food. Can we relate this to modern reasons for migration, such as seeking better opportunities or escaping dangers? 

EDI: Is it right to judge someone by how they look, or their family, or should we only judge by what they do? 

Health: How did prehistoric people stay healthy? What challenges might they have faced with food, shelter, and safety? 

Religion and Ethics: Why do you think rituals and religious beliefs are important to communities, both then and now? 

SRE: Why are family and friend networks important? 

PHSE: What key skills and personal attributes were needed by people during this period? 

Climate: How did the climate affect people during this period? Are we more or less affected by climate today? 

Careers: Who are classed as key workers in Britain today and what jobs do they do? 

Social Action: Design a community project that helps tackle inequality or exclusion in your local area, such as supporting marginalised groups, promoting fairness, or improving access to resources 

 

Organisation URL: https://www.kirklees.gov.uk/beta/museums-and-galleries/index.aspx 

 

Glossary: 

Archaeology - The study of how people lived in the past by digging up and examining things they left behind, like tools, homes, and bones. 

Bronze Age - The time when people started using bronze tools and weapons, after the Stone Age. 

Cremation - A way of dealing with the dead by burning the body and keeping the ashes, often in pottery urns. 

Domestication - The process of taming wild animals or growing crops for farming. 

Hearth - A hearth is the floor or base of a fireplace, made of a fireproof material such as stone.

Hillfort - A large settlement built on a hill with earth banks and ditches for defence. 

Iron Age - The period when people started using iron for tools and weapons instead of bronze. 

Mesolithic - Also called the Middle Stone Age; the time when people were hunter-gatherers moving from place to place. 

Neolithic - The New Stone Age, when people began farming, building permanent homes, and making polished stone tools. 

Nomadic - Moving from place to place instead of living in one home. 

Rampart - A defensive wall made of earth, stone, or wood. 

Wattle and Daub - A method for building walls using sticks (wattle) covered in mud or clay (daub).