The Normans in Durham Session Information

This session can be taught:

• at Durham Castle.

Visit to Durham Castle:

Please Note: Due to extensive building works on our school teaching spaces this session will not be available as a full day to secondary groups as we cannot provide the facilities these groups need for lunch and toilets. We aim to start these sessions for Spring term 2025. 

Your class will be taken around this remarkable building, learning about its history back to the Norman period, when it was first constructed. They will also be shown original surviving Norman features of the building. Afterwards, the class will be able to get hands-on with the kind of weaponry and armour used by the Normans and their enemies when they came to Durham. 

Need to know:  

• The half day at the castle runs from 10am – 12noon and is entirely taught by members of our Learning and Engagement Team.  
• The maximum number of children we can take on one day is approximately 30 children. 
• These sessions are free for KS3 students.
• Lunch can be eaten in our classroom spaces, or if the weather is good and you would like to, you can sit outside on Palace Green and have a picnic. 

Directions to the Castle

National Curriculum Link:

History - Key Stage 3:

The development of Church, state and society in Medieval Britain 1066-1509  

• The Norman Conquest. 
• Identify significant events. 
• Understand how different types of historical sources are used rigorously to make historical claims and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.

Session costs