The History of Cnochan Burraidh – a preschool adventure

How the project achieved the sections of the award

Plan

Project and nursery staff met to identify suitable opportunities for this age group (4 year olds), agreeing a timetable with built in flexibility for weather and access to the site.

At the start of each session the children took part in project planning. They were asked how they could identify things (people, place, transport) from the past, and for ideas on how they could find this out and share with other people at nursery. We discussed how long each session would be, where we were going, how they were going to get there safely, and what resources they needed to take with them including paper and crayons, tape measure and dress-up clothing.

For session two we visited the burial site and the children planned which markers they would draw and what pictures they wanted to take. Through simple story telling the children were encouraged to ask questions.

Investigate

With the help of project staff, children used tape measures to take them into the past. They created timelines to investigate the past, present, and future and how could they measure the differences between them. Looking at photos and thinking about things and people they know – their grandparents, cars, Urquhart Castle, the nursery, and their own houses they identified what was oldest and what was newest. They discovered they were in the present and how far back in time the castle was. The timeline was brought to life further using dress-up clothing ,allowoing the group to explore changes in fashion and materials through time.

Story telling also played a part in the project and helped the children understand more about the sites they would be visiting.

Engage

Before a visit to the burial ground the group were told a story about the battle of Coire Buidhe and the first person to be buried at the site. Through stories, discussion and looking at headstones they found out the burial site is for the Grant family of Glen Urquhart, the number of graves (29), what a grave marker is, and how weather has damaged some of the stones. The children were involved in taking photos at the site and drew pictures. They discovered the site is very old and has not been used in a long time. They discovered that the battle in 1689 and started because someone shot a hare!

The group also used the handling boxes from Urquart castle, investigating the contents discussing how things have changed, cooking pots, clothes, mail shirts etc.

Soap carving was used as a method to explain stone carving techniques, linked to the stone carvings on the grave markers from the site visit. The children shared this activity with the other nursery pupils and staff and their families.

Inspire

The children fully engaged in the activities, they eagerly took part in each session and shared their discoveries with staff, other children, and their families. This included telling stories to others and displaying their drawings and photographs at the nursery. They were very enthusiastic telling the centre staff about what they had learned..

Wider engagement in the community was achieved through sharing experiences and activities on the nursery web blog and on the project website https://www.soirbheas.org/cnocan-burraidh-heritage-project/
http://www.glenurquhartchildcarecentre.com/cnocan-burriadh-project/
http://www.glenurquhartchildcarecentre.com/site-visit-to-cnocan-buraidh/
http://www.glenurquhartchildcarecentre.com/cnocan-buraidh-project-artefacts-from-the-past-visit/

Reflect

At the end of each session the children took part in up to 2 hours of reflective learning, sharing their experiences at the childcare centre, drawing pictures, looking and photos and telling the stories they had learned. Many parents commented on the enthusiasm and knowledge the children and gained.

The Childcare Centre also linked this into their learning and reflection on their social studies outcomes:
SOC 0-02a: I can make a personal link to my past by exploring items or images connected with important individuals or special events in my life
SOC 0-04a: I have explored how people lived in the past and have used imaginative play to show how their lives were different from my own and people around me.

Lessons Learned

Unfortunately, the Corona virus restrictions stopped some planned activities from taking place. We were delighted to have the support from the nursery staff and HES staff which ensured the children learned from the activities they were able to take part in. Momentum and interest in the project continue, and all groups will be invited to see the completed conservation works and take place in storytelling activities when allowed.

There is nothing we would do differently as through good planning and involving staff and supporters from the outset ensured the activities were interesting, informative, and achieved our project outcomes.

We have been greatly supported by specialists from Archaeology and Inverness Archive Centre. We would encourage any group to contact their local Community Archivists to see how they can support projects; and make use of the advice and resources available from Historic Environment Scotland and Archaeology Scotland.

Highlight(s)

The enthusiasm of the children was infectious. They were interested and engaged with all the activities that took place and were excited when telling people what they had learned.

When they had taken part in the timeline exercise they ran off as a group to the far side of the playing fields – when asked what they were doing the response was – we have gone back in the past to look for dinosaurs and bears. The concept of future was identified when one child sitting on the banking, when asked what he was doing, responded with “I’m in the future” and when asked how far in the future, responded with “I’m 17”! They were entranced by stories, with their vivid imaginations giving them confidence to ask questions on why things happened etc; they were amazed by the mausoleum and curious about how long people had been buried at the site.

The staff enjoyed all activities and commented on the visit from Eve and Nikki (HES) about stone carving using soap, “we thought it was a great learning experience for the children”.

The benefit of using the Heritage Hero Awards

The Awards provided a structure to help guide what age-related activities to incorporate into the project. The nursery staff advised on level of skill and communication which resulted in a well-balanced programme to be delivered.

In addition, the children gained a sense of pride in being awarded with a certificate for the work they have completed and will hopefully maintain an interest in heritage and culture.

Case study compiled by

Nicky MacLennan. Assistant Community Development Officer, Soirbheas.

Quotes

During the visit to the mausoleum and gravesite the children were told the story of the local battle of Coire Buidhe on the 27 June 1689, which explains that the first Grant buried at Cnocan Burraidh was James Grant 3rd of Sheuglie who was killed at the battle. The children counted the grave markers and then drew pictures. The children’s comments include:

“People are buried under these, aren’t they?”

“They had a big fight because of the sheep” (Battle of Coire Buidhe)

“We counted them all” (graves – 29 memorials)

“A rabbit or a bird came out and they started fighting”

“That’s a letter in my name” (pointing to letters on graves)

“We found lots of numbers” (on the graves)

Audrey MacLennan, Manager at Glen Urquhart Childcare Centre commented “It was fantastic to have been able to offer the preschool children at the Glen Urquhart Childcare some actual hands-on experiences with the past. This area of the curriculum can be challenging to cover as having the capacity and resources to be able to bring the past to life for the children can have its challenges. As this project was literally on our doorstep and all resources were brought to us it meant that we could not only physically take the children to the site, but they could feel and handle the artefacts. This made for an all-round sensory experience for them too”.

With thanks to

Eve Boyle and Nickki Gilbert – Historic Environment Scotland
Heritage Lottery Fund
Soirbheas for Funding and Development Staff time and support
David Fraser Glen Urquhart Community Council
Chris Grant, Grantown-on-Spey

More information on this project can be found at:

https://www.soirbheas.org/cnocan-burraidh-heritage-project/
http://www.glenurquhartchildcarecentre.com/site-visit-to-cnocan-buraidh/

Captions for photos/ images

http://www.glenurquhartchildcarecentre.com/site-visit-to-cnocan-buraidh/
Photos supplied from the Childcare Centre.

Learning about the Grants coming to Urquhart Castle and timelines with Nicky and Eve. We laid a tape measure out and then spaced-out years.

They found our 4-year-olds only take up a small step in time!

It’s a long step back in time to when Urquhart Castle was lived in, and the clothes were so different then!

The goal posts in the background are where the children discovered how far back in time you had to go to find Bears in Scotland!