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Museums outreach resource Life in c.1900 (key stage 2)

Life in Ashington c.1900 (Key Stage 2)

The unit explores the lives of families living in a colliery village in north-east at the end of the Victorian period and could form part of a study of Victorian childhood or an investigation into the impact of changes in work on the lives of children. Pupils investigate characteristic features of daily life including school, home and leisure, using a range of sources from Museum & Northumberland Archives and the internet.

Download the following sources and images from www.museumsnorthumberland.org.uk/woodhorn-museum/about-us/learning/ for your group to explore and work with:

Census work

• Life in Ashington c.1900 key stage 2 – source 1 • Life in Ashington c.1900 key stage 2 – source 2

Map work

• Life in Ashington c.1900 key stage 2 – map 1 • Life in Ashington c.1900 key stage 2 – map 2

Photographs

• Life in Ashington c.1900 key stage 2 – Ashington Football club • Life in Ashington c.1900 key stage 2 – Ashington Orchestral Band • Life in Ashington c.1900 key stage 2 – Station Road (NRO5283/A/28) • Life in Ashington c.1900 key stage 2 – Station Road (NRO5283/A/34)

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Museums Northumberland outreach resource Life in Ashington c.1900 (key stage 2)

CENSUS WORK The Census is a count of all the people in the on one particular day and has been taken every ten years (except 1941) since 1801. It provides wonderful information including how many people live in each house, their names, ages and where they were born. As a result, Census information is brilliant for helping us to explore the past.

You are going to look at the lives of two children growing up in the Ashington area at the turn of the century (about 1900). That is just over 100 years ago. Think about how different their lives would have been in comparison to your own.

Source 1 Ashington Census 1891 1. Look at the 1891 Census image to find entry 334 (first column)

▪ a. How many people are listed in this entry? ▪ b. Who is named as the head of the house? ▪ c. What job does he do? ▪ d. How many children are there? ▪ e. How old are the children (or child)? ▪ f. Where were the people born?

2. Look at the other entries on the page.

▪ a. What jobs do the people do? ▪ b. Which family lives at number 6? ▪ c. How many rooms does Alexander’s family occupy? ▪ d. How many children does he have?

Source 2 Ashington Census 1901 1. Look at the 1901 Census image to find the entry for Henry Brewis.

▪ a. How old is he? ▪ b. What job did he do?

2. Find the family that appears on both the 1891 and the 1901 census.

▪ a. What is their surname? ▪ b. What is their address in 1901? ▪ c. What jobs does Mark do? ▪ d. How many children are there in the family in 1901? ▪ e. How old is the youngest child? ▪ f. How old are Stephen and Lizzie?

3. A major change has taken place within this family between 1891 and 1901.

▪ a. Can you spot what this change is? ▪ b. What is the most likely cause of this change?

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Museums Northumberland outreach resource Life in Ashington c.1900 (key stage 2)

MAP WORK

Ashington is in Northumberland, four miles east of Morpeth and 17 miles north of . In the 1700s, it was just a small farm with a few dwellings around, but after 1847, when the first shaft was sunk for mining coal on the land of the Duke of Portland, it rapidly grew into the ‘world’s largest pit village.’

The Ashington Coal Company, which was formed in the 1860s, developed more coal mines and built houses for the miners and their families, who flocked to work in Ashington from all over the country. As the population grew, schools, post offices, leisure facilities and a police station were constructed, as well as places of worship. In 1913, Ashington Hospital was built.

Population • 1841: 76 people (39 male and 37 female) lived in 13 homes • 1891: 5250 people (2852 male and 2398 female) lived in 849 homes. • 2001: population = 27,335

To find out what Ashington was like at the end of the 19th century, and how it had changed in the following thirty years, look at the two maps and the photographs, and answer the questions.

Map 1 - The Ashington Area in the 1890s

1. Housing

▪ a. Name all the streets of houses you can find. ▪ b. How many are there? ▪ c. What kind of housing is the most common?

2. Churches and schools

▪ a. How many churches can you find? ▪ b. Which religion do you think most people followed? ▪ c. Why do you think this? ▪ d. How many schools can you find?

3. Work

▪ a. Where did people work? ▪ b. Why was the railway needed? ▪ c. Was Ashington a working class or middle-class town? ▪ d. How did you make up your mind about the previous question?

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Museums Northumberland outreach resource Life in Ashington c.1900 (key stage 2)

Map 2 The Ashington Area in the 1920s 1. Housing

▪ a. Approximately how many streets of houses can you see? ▪ b. Most of the houses have a long space in front of them. What do you think this could be?

2. Churches and Schools

▪ a. How many churches can you find? ▪ b. How many schools can you find? ▪ c. What other services are shown on map 2 but not on map 1?

Colour Coding On your own copy of the maps shade

▪ All the churches red ▪ All the houses green ▪ All the leisure facilities blue ▪ All the railway lines orange

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Museums Northumberland outreach resource Life in Ashington c.1900 (key stage 2)

PHOTOGRPAHS

1. Look at the photographs of Ashington Football Club and Orchestral Band.

▪ a. What do they show? ▪ b. Where would they have practiced? ▪ c. On which map did you find the answers?

2. Look at the two photographs of Station Road in Ashington.

▪ a. What do they show? ▪ b. Why are the children walking and playing in the road?

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