Our taught sessions and online resources cover a variety of time periods and places. Many contain structured investigations for use directly in the classroom. Others are more suited for research and preparation. They all allow access into our unique collections.
Showing 245 resources
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1833 Factory Act
Did it solve the problems of children in factories?
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1834 Poor Law
What did people think of the new Poor Law?
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19th century mining disaster
What happened at the Trimdon Grange Mining Disaster?
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19th century people
What can we tell from this photograph?
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19th century prison ships
What do these documents reveal about attitudes to crime and punishment?
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4099 is my name (SEND)
How can we share the experiences of someone who lived in the past?
A Great Christmas Inconvenience
What can we learn from the documents about how some Victorians celebrated Christmas?
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A medieval mystery
Can you decode the dark secrets of the cartoon above?
A Significant Person
Why is this person from the past remembered?
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A Victorian prison
Why were Victorian Prisons so tough?
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Adolf Hitler
Was Hitler a 'passionate lunatic'?
All on board!
What can we learn from old board games?
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All pals together
Would you like to meet our tommy, Henry Fairhurst?
All Work and No Play
What does this document reveal about work in the past?
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Anglo-Saxons – Gift from a King
What was Anglo-Saxon society like?
Animals in the Archives
What jobs have animals done in times of war and peace?
Archaeology in the Archives
What kinds of documents can tell us about the work of archaeologists?
Archives Ahoy!
What can we learn about pirates from our collection?
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Attlee’s Britain 1945-1951
Planning for the future?
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Belsen concentration camp 1945
What did the British find when they entered Belsen concentration camp?
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Body Snatchers
What led to the Anatomy Act of 1832?
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Bound for Britain
Experiences of immigration to the UK
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British Response to V1 and V2
How did Britain respond to the threat of attack by missiles in 1943?
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Bussa’s rebellion
How and why did the enslaved Africans of Barbados rebel in 1816?
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Captain Cook in Hawaii
What happened on his final voyage?
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Caribbean history in photographs
What can these photographs tell us?
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Cats and mice
What tactics were used by suffragettes, police and government?
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Census detective
What can you find out?
Census Detectives
What does the census reveal about families in the past?
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Chamberlain and Hitler 1938
What was Chamberlain trying to do?
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Chartism
Who were the Chartists?
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Chertsey
What was Chertsey like in the Middle Ages?
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Choosing for the Archives (SEND)
How can we find out about someone from the past, using documents, images and objects?
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Christmas is cancelled!
What were Cromwell’s main political and religious aims for the Commonwealth 1650-1660?
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Civil rights and racial segregation
What was the response to racial segregation in the US?
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Civil Rights in America
Follow the progress of the struggle through the archives
Codes and Secret Messages
What do the documents reveal about codes and secret messages?
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Cold War
How concerned were the British in the early stages of the Cold War?
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Cold War on File
Why did the Cold War emerge?
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Convincing the Colonies
How did Britain try to keep the support of the people of West Africa?
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Coping with Cholera
How did the authorities react in 19th century?
Craft Club – Christmas Cards
Festive pop-up cards
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Crime in Whitechapel
What made Whitechapel an area where the ‘detection’ of murders was ‘very difficult’?
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Criminal petitions
What do they reveal about the justice system?
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Crisis in the reign of Mary I
How far can Mary I’s reign be considered a time of crisis?
Curiosities
What is this curious object?
Dear Herbert
What can personal documents reveal about people’s lives?
Disaster at Sea
How can we find out about significant events in the past?
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Discover the Dissolution
How did the Dissolution change my local area?
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Domesday Book
What can we learn about England in the 11th century?
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Domesday Book: medieval treasure
What can we learn about people’s lives in 1086?
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Early Modern witch trials
Who was accused?
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Eden’s last stand
Why did Anthony Eden resign in 1938?
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Edward the Confessor
What does the Domesday Abbreviato tells us about Edward the Confessor?
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Elizabeth I in her own words
What can we learn about Elizabeth’s style of ruling?
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Elizabeth I’s monarchy
Rule of a ‘weak and feeble’ woman?
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Elizabethan propaganda
How did England try to show Spain planned to invade in 1588?
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England’s Immigrants, 1330-1550
Downloads for teachers
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English Reformation c1527-1590
How did state and people respond to religious change?
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Enquiring into Elizabeth
What were the issues faced by England’s most famous Tudor Queen?
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Evacuation to Canada
How much care was really taken?
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Evacuation to Shropshire
What was it like in the Second World War?
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Fifties Britain
Never so good? Or too good to be true?
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Florence Nightingale
Why do we remember her?
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Foundling Hospital
What were conditions like for children in the care of the Foundling Hospital?
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Four days’ hard labour
What was life like for a Victorian child criminal?
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Framlingham Castle
What was the primary function of Framlingham Castle in the ‘Middle Ages’?
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French Revolution
How did the British react to July 1789?
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From the Front
How typical was Albert Edwin Rippington’s experience of war?
Fun in the Files
What can our documents reveal about how people had fun in the past?
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General Haig
Butcher of the Somme or hero of Amiens?
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Georgian Britain
Age of modernity?
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German occupation of the Rhineland
What should Britain do about it?
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God blew and they were scattered
Did God really help the English defeat the Spanish Armada?
Gordon Ford’s story
What was it like to be an airman in World War Two?
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Government posters
How did Britain encourage people at home to help win the war?
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Great Fire of London: examine the evidence
How can we know what happened back in 1666?
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Great Fire of London: how London changed
What happened?
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Great Plague of 1665-1666
How did London respond to it?
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Great War soldier’s record
What can we find out?
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Gunpowder Plot
Can you uncover the plans of the plotters?
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Helyntion Beca (Cymraeg/Welsh)
Beth a ddigwyddodd yn ystod
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Henry VIII court rules
How did Henry VIII get up in the morning?
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Henry VIII: image of a king
Was appearance everything for a ruler in the 16th century?
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Henry’s royal rules (SEND)
What were the rules of daily life for a king in Tudor times?
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Hidden Love: LGBT+ History Month
What can our documents reveal about LGBTQ+ lives in the 1930s?
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Hitler assassination plan
How did the British plan to kill Hitler?
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Holding History
What is 'The National Archives'?
Holidays are Here!
What can our documents reveal about how families enjoyed summer holidays during the Second World War?
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How we were taught
What was school like 100 years ago?
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Independent research
Do you need help with your independent research?
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Introduction
What is The National Archives?
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Jacobite propaganda
What was the point of Jacobite propaganda?
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Jacobite Rebellion of 1715
Rebels with a cause?
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Jacobite Rising of 1745
A serious threat to the Hanoverians?
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James I
What were the key areas of dispute?
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Jutland: Death at sea
Were lives wasted when the Indefatigable sank?
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Kenilworth Castle (part one)
What can you tell from an image?
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Kenilworth Castle (part two)
What do the medieval records reveal?
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Kindertransport
Saving refugee children?
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Letters from the First World War, part one
How did these men experience the conflict? (1915)
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Letters from the First World War, part two
How did these men experience the conflict? (1916 - 18)
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Life aboard the Titanic
Who travelled on the fateful maiden voyage?
Living under canvas
What can this document tell us about the experience of a group of refugee children?
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Loyalty and dissent
How did Indian soldiers respond to the First World War?
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Magna Carta teacher’s resources
Downloads for teachers
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Magna Carta, 1215 and beyond
A medieval revolution?
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Maps – a study through time
How and why does an area change over time?
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Medicine on the Western Front
How can we find out about medical treatment in the First World War?
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Medicine on the Western Front (part one)
How did trench warfare affect injuries and treatment?
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Medicine on the Western Front (part two)
How did trench warfare affect injuries and treatment?
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Medieval castles
What was their purpose and significance?
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Mental Health on Record
What do the documents reveal about the understanding of mental health in the past?
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Mining explosion
The Trimdon Grange mining accident
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Murder at Kirk o’ Field
What happened in 1567?
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Native North Americans
What was early contact like between Europeans and Natives?
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Past pleasures
How did the Victorians have fun?
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People – GCSE English Language
Using images for descriptive and narrative writing
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Places – GCSE English Language
Using images for descriptive and narrative writing
Propaganda
How can art be used to convey a message?
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Propaganda and the art of war
How did the British government encourage people to support the war?
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Protest and democracy 1816 to 1818, part 1
Was this the start of mass politics in Britain?
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Protest and democracy 1818 to 1820, part 2
How close was Britain to revolution?
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Queen Anne
How can we find out about her?
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Rebecca riots
What happened during them?
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Resistance and Rebellion in the Caribbean
How did enslaved people resist?
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Richard II
Were the troubles facing England in the 1370s and 1380s due to Richard II’s age and inexperience?
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Rob Roy
A Victorian railway accident
Samuel Pepys
What does his will reveal?
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Say ‘cheese’: a portrait of Queen Victoria’s family
What can Queen Victoria's family photographs tell us?
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School dinners
Why were school dinners brought in?
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Selling the Victorians
Victorians for sale! Has advertising changed from Victorian times?
Signed, Sealed, Delivered
What can an object reveal about its owner and life in Medieval England?
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Significant Events
What happened then?
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Significant People
Who is who?
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Significant People
Key Stage One Activity Book
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Significant Places
What's in a place?
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Sixties Britain
A social and cultural revolution?
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Slavery
How did the Abolition Acts of 1807 and 1833 affect the slave trade?
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Suffrage Tales
What would you do?
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Suffragettes
How can we find out about suffragettes and the reactions to their methods?
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Suffragettes ‘in Trousers’
How did men support votes for women?
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Suffragettes on file
What did the struggle for the vote involve?
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Suffragettes through government eyes: ‘A little daylight game’?
What do the records reveal about the movement?
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Suffragettes: Outrage at Kew
What's the story?
The Beautiful Game
What can our documents reveal about an incredible sports match?
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The Great Seal
What can it tell us?
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The Holocaust
Key documents from The National Archives
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The Holocaust
What can British government documents tell us about what happened in the Holocaust?
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The Home Front
How did people prepare for the war at home?
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The King, the Crown and the Colonel
How did Thomas Blood try to steal the Crown Jewels in 1671?
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The Mangrove Nine
How much can documents from The National Archives reveal about the Mangrove Nine?
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The Road to Partition 1939-1947
The violent creation of two new nations
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The Sinking of the Titanic
Why were so many lives lost in the disaster?
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Thirties Britain
The depressed decade?
Time Travel Club Activities
Discovering The National Archives
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Trimdon
What was it like living in a late 19th century mining town?
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Tudor Entertainment
What was the effect of the early playhouses?
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Tudor rebellions
How seriously did they challenge the authority of the crown?
Tudors: Image of a King
How did monarchs present an ‘image’ of themselves in the past?
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Twenties Britain (part one)
Decade of conflict, realignment and change?
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Twenties Britain (part two)
Decade of conflict, realignment and change?
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Unmasking a spy
Who was Karel Richter?
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Victorian children in trouble with the law
Did the punishment fit the crime?
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Victorian family history
How can we find out about the life of a Victorian child using family sources?
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Victorian Food and Drink
What do old adverts reveal?
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Victorian Health Reform
How did the Victorians view compulsory vaccination?
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Victorian homes
Was there much difference between rich and poor homes?
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Victorian Industrial Towns
What made them unhealthy?
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Victorian lives
How was life different in Victorian times?
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Victorian Railways
Did they create more crime?
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Virtual classroom taster
Would you like to book a live virtual classroom taster session?
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Walter Tull
How can we use sources to find out about him?
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What is history? (KS2)
How do historians know what to believe?
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Whitechapel
How can we find about what Whitechapel was like in 1888?
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William Shakespeare
What can we find out about his life?
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Women and the English Civil Wars
How did these conflicts affect their lives?
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Workhouse Voices
What did paupers say about the Poor Law?
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World Cup 1966
Did England rig the result?
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Zeppelin raids
How did First World War Zeppelin raids affect British civilians?