Year 11 London History Trip

On Tuesday 13th and 15th October the History department took Year 11 students on two walking tours in Central London. The trip centres around the students’ thematic study: Migration through time.

Travelling by tube, the groups split with one going to Notting Hill in the morning and the second travelling to Liverpool Street station. The former started their walking tour on Portobello Road, followed by Basing Street studios - the recording studio for Exodus amongst other seminal albums. Later students visited the location of the former Mangrove Restaurant - a centre of Black Activism - and the focal point for the trial of the ’Mangrove Nine’ in 1970. Students also saw former Rachmann housing, and the site of a famous clash between racist
thugs and Caribbean migrants during the Notting Hill riots. Zak, Year 11 said, “I really enjoyed Notting Hill and learning about how much history Portobello Road has as well as what happened at the Mangrove Restaurant."

Meanwhile in Liverpool Street, former Deputy Head at Ruislip High School Mr Rich shared his expertise of East London migration. Liverpool Street was the primary arrival point for Kindertransport children escaping persecution from Nazi Germany - represented by multiple statues in the station. Students visited the site of religious buildings such as the Sandy’s Row synagogue and Brick Lane mosque - showcasing the changing nature of migration to the region.

Students were also shown the imprint migrants have made in the built environment of Spitalfields. The houses built by wealthy silkweavers from the Huguenot community dating from the 1720s around Fournier Street illustrate why Spitalfields was given the name ‘Weaver Town.’ Rosie, Year 11 said, “It was really interesting to see the buildings and sights that we had learned about in class physically in front of me, and to see how the area has changed.”

Stopping for lunch in Spitalfields Market, students swapped over to experience what the others had in the afternoon.

Since this is the fourth year the History Department has run the trip it has become a key date in the department’s calendar. Well done to the students for their engagement and thank you to staff from outside history who joined us and helped the trip happen.