The Harrying of the North

This is a fully resourced KS3 (11-14 years) lesson that brings to life the horrific events of the Harrying of the North. Included is a formative assessment which could be used in a follow up lesson.

The lesson is structured around three progress questions.

Students begin by working out what features about the North meant that it posed such a problem to William in the years after 1066.

They will then use a series of primary sources to piece together what was inflicted on the north of England by the Normans.

The final part of the lesson seeks to build students’ skills in questioning how useful sources are, based on content and provenance. Students are introduced to this by thinking about the uses and problems evidence might pose to a police investigation (this can of course be skipped if students already have worked on advanced source skills). They then apply this thinking to the sources they have already examined. These skills could be assessed in the formative assessment included.

The lesson is part of a bigger unit called Medieval England: The Making of the Feudal System which can also be found on TES.