BEFORE YOU GO QUESTING
Do you know enough about Arthur and his world?
Check out:
Have you considered what Arthur might be expecting to see?
Check out Arthur's world
Have you considered how Arthur might react to your world?
Do all you can to help heritage detectives make sense of the world they see around them today. This will give you hooks on which to hang the past and help them to better understand what they discover about your place in the past.
Have you considered that you are unlikely to find much from Arthur's time?
You might find the odd Norman window, buttress or wall in your local church but that is probably all you will find - recognise this because it will free you to work with whatever your young heritage detectives are interested in. As a consequence you discover more about the story of your parish right up to the present day. This will help Arthur make sense of what he finds in the 21st century!
When you chose your trail route did you consider the layers of the past?
Your detectives must choose something to explore, what they choose may seem very old to them but not to you. Don't worry, It doesn't really matter what they actually choose; you are not writing a local history just developing a simple story based on moments in time. Try to include some remnant from the layers of the past in the route you choose to explore.
Remember that there are stories in the stones!
Think about an ancient church: if it walls
could speak what stories would they tell? Now use your imagination and be curiosity to find the clues that help you discover the stories.
OUT QUESTING
Think laterally
Look for the past in the names of streets and houses - the Pershore area may still be a rural area but in many towns and cities house and street names preserve the past in the community memory and offer clues as to what was once there - for those who are receptive.
Consider house and street names. These are clues, often to the relatively recent times but sometimes they refer to a much more distant past. Consider words like Mill, Manor, Court, Hall they still had significance in rural area in the 20th century. The maps and diagrams on the fly leaves of 'The Seeing Stone' illustrate the layout of Arthur’s manor many centuries ago but the words mill, manor, court and hall along with manor house, home farm, church and church farm and lord of the manor continued to describe our rural society well into the 20th century.
Make full use of the parish church. Recognise the historic significance of the Parish Church and its chapels in the story of an area. E.g. The Diocese of Worcester was formed in 681. Pershore is almost as old. The church owned vast tracts of land right up to the latter part of the nineteenth century. What has been the effect of this? Who owns the land today?
Make full use of the timeline. The heritage knights use timelines to illustrate the passage of time. With a timeline it is not necessary to fully understand the chronology. What is old, older, still older and the oldest, these are all acceptable concepts to use with you pages and squires, with the timeline you can illustrate how things change over time.
Now you are ready to start your detective work.
Go and EXPLORE, SPOT and WONDER