Penrith Town Victorian Day (Nov 2015)
This term in Year 5 and 6 we have been learning all about the Victorians. As part of our topic we visited Penrith to look at all of the evidence left by the Victorians living here.
We began our walk by viewing street furniture (lampposts, chimneys and fan lights) in Great Dockray. This area was a Victorian sheep and pig market. We walked to the Corn Market (bandstand) next, where the street lights are still in the Victorian style now but originally it would have been lit by gas. Along Angel Lane towards the Musgrave Monument we found lots of Victorian historical evidence. Signs outside Graham’s dated it to 1880 and said they sold tea and manure! We learnt all about the Monument being built as a memorial to Philip Musgrave in 1861.
St Andrew’s churchyard contained many clues from the Victorian times, buildings, iron work and fan lights. We really enjoyed spotting parts of Penrith’s history. After lunch we continued our tour, visiting Devonshire arcade, Arnisons, The George (formally the George and Dragon), Sandgate, Middlegate, the Coronation gardens and one group visited Brunswick Square. It was amazing to learn about Victorian Penrith from our expert teachers Mrs Slee and Mrs Rainsley. So much history is all around the town and many of us were surprised to link it to Victorian times.
