Our topic for term 1 is Kilwinning and we have already started to do a lot of research on this.
We have looked at Kilwinning on a world and U.K. map. We used Google Maps and Street View to walk round the different areas of Kilwinning. We especially enjoyed walking to our houses on Street View. We have found where our houses are on different maps of Kilwinning and labelled them. We made a collage of our houses out of different materials.
We have started to look at the facilities in Kilwinning and have asked our families at home about what facilities they use or would like. We have agreed that we will conduct a survey of the different kinds of shops when we go to visit the Abbey Tower.
Eglinton Park
The history of Eglinton Castle is fascinating and we have been comparing pictures from what it used to look like and what it looks like now. We couldn’t believe the differences. This inspired us to write a newspaper article about the Castle. We will continue to learn about the people who lived in the castle and the jobs they did. Hopefully we will learn more if we get a chance to visit the park. We have also created line drawings of the “old” castle.
We have learned a little about the Eglinton Tournament and Tournament Bridge as well. Hopefully we will learn more about this when we go to meet the rangers at Eglinton Park.
Finally we looked at the land use of Eglinton Park and Natasha was able to tell us all about the working farm in the grounds. We also learned about the houses being built in the estate.
Kilwinning Abbey
We were lucky enough to have a visit from Christine Watson from Kilwinning Heritage. She brought some exciting props with her and taught us all about the history of Kilwinning.
First we met Winning. He came across the Irish Sea with his two friends to teach the people, of what is now Kilwinning, about Jesus and Christianity. He build a small church in the town. This is where Kil (small church) winning (St Winning) got it’s name.
Next we met Sir Richard de Morville. He came to Kilwinning and built the Abbey about 800 years ago. It was a grand building and built in the shape of a cross with the living quarters attached.
In charge of the monks who lived in the Abbey was the Abbot. In our class we had Abbot Jack. He told the monks what jobs they had to do in the Abbey and local community.
Last but not least we met Mary the weaver. She lived in the town outside the abbey. The town at the time was called Segdoune and not Kilwinning as we know it now.
