In their history lessons, Year 1 have been learning about the positive impact that Queen Victoria had on Britain during her reign. They learnt that Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert, supported Britain in becoming more developed. During her reign, trams and trains being developed meant that people and goods could move around the country and machinery that could be powered by coal and water could produce materials such as cotton, paper and metals very quickly that could then be shipped to other countries to support Britain becoming wealthier. Today, Year 1 went on a walk around Darwen to see the impact that Queen Victoria’s reign had on their hometown. They saw many factories that have now been repurposed but were once cotton or paper mills such as Radford Mill on Bolton Road, Hilton’s Old Paper Mill which is now Kenleys and Brittania Mills. They also saw several sights were cotton factories used to be that are now housing estates such as the site where Bowling Green Mill used to stand and where Waterfield Mill used to be. From visiting so many locations where cotton and paper mills used to be, it helped year 1 to understand just how much of a part Darwen used to play in producing cotton especially. They also learnt that this cotton used to get shipped over to India to make Britain wealthier and this is why Ghandi visited Darwen. As well as this, Year 1 also saw the original tramway track which was built and in operation during Queen Victoria’s reign and the concrete capping on Clough Street which tells us that there was a coal mine in his area which would have been used to generate the power for both the trams, trains and machinery. Year 1 walked over 3 miles during our local area history lesson which is a great contribution to our ‘Big Lent Walk’ challenge too- well done Year 1.
