Part Two – Where shall we go?
Suggested inquiry questions: How did public transport help the Victorians get around?
Potential activities: Create a living map of your classroom. Compare Victorian and modern maps.
Let’s take a look at a Victorian map and decide where to go on our trip to the beach.
The following ‘tasks’ are suggested activities which you can choose from or adapt to make them suitable for your students.
Tasks
Play video two
Decide where to go for your day out.
‘We’ve been working all week. Where shall we go for a day out?’
‘Yes, let’s go to the seaside!’
Bring the map to life
By the 1890s, it was becoming easier for many people to go on a day trip using public transport. Help your students to decide where they want to go on their day out by creating a giant sensory version of our railway map in your classroom. From a starting point in the middle of the room (representing your students’ home town), stretch out lengths of red wool to the edges of the room. Each strand of wool represents a railway line on the map leading to a different destination for our Victorian day at the beach. Your students can decide which ‘railway line’ they’d like to take and then follow it.
Things to discuss:
- Look closely at the 1899 railway map. Can you spot your town, or somewhere close to it? Follow the red railway lines from your area – where does it take you?
- Compare the Victorian rail map with a modern one. What differences can you spot?
- Where do you like to go for a day out? Why?
Background
Further information:
Working-class men and women worked very long hours for little pay at the start of the Victorian era. Conditions did improve during the century though. For example, the Ten Hours Act of 1847 limited women and young people to working a maximum of 58 hours a week.
In 1871 the Bank Holidays Act established the first ever paid bank holidays in Britain. This, combined with the massive development of the railways in the second half of the 19th century, opened up new possibilities for leisure and relaxation. For the first time, families could experience a day at the seaside as train travel offered a fast and cheap way of getting there.
Many seaside towns grew up because of the railways. Places like Skegness and Bournemouth changed from small coastal villages to thriving seaside resorts during the 19th century and visitors flocked to towns such as Brighton, Blackpool, Llandudno and Scarborough.
Back to top
Suggested inquiry questions: How did public transport help the Victorians get around?
Potential activities: Create a living map of your classroom. Compare Victorian and modern maps.
Part One – Entering the Archives
Going back in time
Part Four – On the beach
Where do we want to sit on the beach? What activities can we do while we’re here?