Animating the Manor

Everyday Life in a Northumbrian Manor:
Animating the Manor

In 2019 Northumberland Archives was awarded a grant of £73100 by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to run a project ‘Everyday Life in a Northumberland Manor’. The project promotes the use of manorial records by family and community historians and other researchers.

As part of the project, copies of manorial documents were taken into two First Schools in Northumberland to inspire an animation project.

You can recreate this project using our learning resources which includes a step by step guide and copies of the documents used.

The Schools

Sele First School, Year 3 – March 2024 – 27 pupils

Hexham First School, Year 4 – June-July 2024 – 13 pupils

Allendale Primary School, Year 6 – November 2024 – 22 pupils

The Programme

Workshop 1 – Introduction to Archives and Manors

What is an archive?

Introducing children to archives – looking at a range of archival documents including our oldest document from 1156.

What is a Manor?

Introducing children to manors by looking at a range of Manorial documents and the Manorial Map.

In the marketplace (Hexham)

A visit to Hexham’s marketplace for a then and now comparison. A look at the Moot Hall – the administrative building for the Manor of Hexham – and creating Manorial customs.

Oral History (Allendale)

Listening to oral history recordings about the manor, oral history training, conducting interviews with members of the community.

Workshop 2 – A Deeper Dive into the Manor

Oral history (Hexham)

Listening to oral history recordings about Hexham marketplace in the past.

Marketplaces & Manorial Customs

A look at documents relating to manorial markets, customs, and punishments. Creating manorial customs.

Identifying buildings and structures in the Manor of Hexham and Allendale

Looking at documents and photographs to find evidence of what took place in the Manor of Hexham and Allendale.

Identifying buildings and structures in the Manor of Hexham and Allendale

Looking at old maps of Hexham to identify the buildings found within the Manor.

Cardboard Manors

Using MakeDo Kits to construct buildings found in the Manor of Hexham and Allendale from cardboard.

Workshop 3 – Animating the Manor

Stop-motion animation workshop using clay figures and cardboard backgrounds to create a scene from the Manor of Hexham and Allendale inspired by the previous two workshops.