Maritime Heritage: Fishing in Cullercoats Key Stage: 2 and 3 Summary: Pupils will learn about fishing in the local area of Cullercoats in the north east of England through different activities. By engaging with outdoor education pupils will learn about how the coast has changed and how industry has changed. Pupils will learn visually by engaging in a powerpoint presentations while discussing ideas and will use team work around the harbour to identify the changes. Activity: Slide 1 Introduction slide. Slide 2 Aims of the lesson Slide 3 Introduce the topic of the fishing industry in Cullercoats Slide 4 Explain women’s role in fishing. Ask pupils how the role has changed today. Slide 5-7 Describe how families worked together to help fishermen. Slide 8 Maritime history: The Northumbrian Coble is unique to the north east. Its design has evolved from the Viking ships. The key feature of the Coble is its flat bottom, which means the boat can be landed on the sandy beaches of the north east. The traditional fish that the Coble fishermen chased was the herring. For more information please have a look at our website http://www.taleoftheherring.com/ Slide 9 Ask the students what they think is fished locally. Some examples are: cod, lobster, herring, salmon and edible crab, all of which were locally caught by Cullercoats fishermen. Slide 10 Maritime history: Describe the housing conditions of the fishing families. Houses were small and had many generations of family living together with no running water. If children are local to Cullercoats ask if they recognise the houses. Slide 11 Maritime history: This painting is one of many paintings by Winslow Homer that depict life in Cullercoats that he observed while he was a resident in Cullercoats.. In 1881–82, the artist made a trip to a fishing community in Cullercoats, England from America that fundamentally changed his work and his life. Ask the students what they think the painting depicts. Hopefully they will see this picture entitled ‘the Herring Net’ shows the stormy and at times dangerous conditions the fishermen faced. Slide 12 Maritime history: Describe the fashion of the time. The fashion of the time was practical for fishing as the aim was to keep the men dry and warm. In the picture you can see the Gansey. The Gansys were hand knitted jumpers worn by fishermen to identify which fishing community they belonged to.Each gansey has a unique pattern which varied from village to village and from family to family. If there was a shipwreck or accident the bodies washed up on the shore could be identified by their gansey as being from a particular village and family. In this way the fisherman could be returned to their family Maritime Heritage: Fishing in Cullercoats for burial. For more photographs of fishermen’s fashion please have a look at our website http://www.taleoftheherring.com/ Slide 13 Pupil Challenge: Ask students if they can guess what these local words mean. Translations on the slide. Slide 14 Explain what the photographs show: The Watch House, coble and a cottage in Simpson Street. The Watch House was designed by architect Frank William Rich and built in the late 1870s for use by the Cullercoats Volunteer Life Brigade. The watch house was used by women to watch for their husbands returning home from the sea as it has an ideal poistion located overlooking the bay. The women would socialise in the watch house by occupying themselves by mending nets, preparing bait or even knitting with the other women as it could be lonely as a fisherman’s wife. On Simpson Street there are a row of fishermen’s cottages which have been preserved during redevelopment. The cottages being maintained as they once were means residents of Cullercoats have a reminder of their maritime heritage. The Coble was a traditional fishing boat, noticeable by its bright colours and flat bottom. Extension Activities: Spot the difference: We used Cullercoats harbour as our past and present activity by visiting Cullercoats harbour and asking pupils to make teams of four. We gave students the four photograph worksheets and asked the pupils to go to each location where the photograph was taken and asked them to list five differences between what they see now and what they see in the photograph. Then we asked pupils to get back together to discuss answers. However you could replicate this activity by using your local area and heritage with the use of historic photographs. Pupils could write a diary entry of what they think a day in the life of a child in 1804 would be like and the challenges they would have faced. Pupils could draw a cartoon strip detailing life in Cullercoats in the 1800s being as creative as possible. At the end of this activity pupils could swap cartoon strips to read. Pupils could draw a picture detailing the fishing industry in 1800s and show it to the rest of the class to explain their picture. You could show Winslow Homer’s Cullercoats paintings for ideas for the pupils to use or use the website http://www.taleoftheherring.com/ for photographs from Cullercoats for ideas. .