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 wider 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 during the Mesolithic period, they were hunter-gatherers, living in temporary camps and using flint tools. 

Later, during the Neolithic period, people across Britain, including Kirklees, began farming and settling. Evidence from places such as Castle Hill shows how early farming communities lived and worked together. 

By the Bronze Age, people were using metal tools and creating burial sites in the local landscape. During the Iron Age, large hillforts such as Castle Hill were built, showing how Kirklees was connected to wider changes in 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 Bronze Age and Iron Age communities in Kirklees adapted to environmental and social change 

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 they were used and what daily life may have been like.
• Art: Create a model or drawing of Castle Hill’s hillfort, including its banks and timber buildings, using natural materials such as sticks and clay.

Heritage is…

• Citizenship: Early societies did not have formal governments. How might leadership and decision-making have worked in these communities?
• Democracy: What are the benefits and challenges of making decisions as a group compared with having a single leader?
• British Values: Early people moved to find food and safety. How can we compare this with reasons people migrate today?

Glossary: 

• Archaeology – The study of how people lived in the past by examining objects and remains they left behind. 
• Bronze Age – A period when people began using bronze tools and weapons. 
• Cremation – A way of dealing with the dead by burning the body and keeping the ashes. 
• Domestication – The process of taming animals or growing crops for farming. 
• Hearth – The base of a fireplace, usually made from stone or another fireproof material. 
• Hillfort – A large settlement built on a hill with banks and ditches for defence. 
• Iron Age – A period when iron tools and weapons replaced bronze. 
• Mesolithic – The Middle Stone Age, when people lived as hunter-gatherers. 
• Neolithic – The New Stone Age, when farming and permanent settlements developed. 
• Nomadic – Moving from place to place rather than living in one location. 
• Rampart – A defensive wall or bank made from earth, stone, or wood. 
• Wattle and daub – A building method using woven sticks covered with mud or clay.