Stories in Stone - How do buildings adapt and change over time to reflect our rich and diverse heritage?

Stories in Stones will help young people see how individual buildings and places continually change over time and how these changes are often influenced by political, economic, social, religious and cultural developments.

The resources can be used by all key stages to support the teaching of a local study focusing on the recent history of migration using the development of the industrial city of Bradford.

Stories in Stone interactive map

Teaching ideas

These resources have a focus on linking changes to Bradford to the waves of migration from the beginnings of industrialization in the late eighteenth century through to the present. The principal waves of immigration in the Bradford story are those of Irish, German and Jewish migrants in the nineteenth century and South Asian migrants after the Second World War.

Based on the City of Bradford the resource can be used as a local study for Bradford/Yorkshire schools; a case study for schools outside of Bradford looking at national changes or as a stimulus for schools across the country to find their story.

There are 4 Teaching Activities relating to the Stories in Stone project:

Learning aims and outcomes

  • To explore the immediate reasons for changes in a range of historic buildings in the same location across time
  • To organise and categorise examples of change over time in a particular location
  • To explain changes in particular historic buildings by linking them to political, economic, social and religious change effecting their common location
  • To understand how migration and change is reflected in our rich and diverse heritage

Prior knowledge

  • Pupils do not need prior knowledge as all the information required is contained within the Teaching Activities above. However, it may be useful if pupils have some prior knowledge of:
    • the textile industry in Bradford and West Yorkshire
    • 19th and 20th century national patterns of migration

Extended learning and useful links

  • Printable version of the Stories in stone map
  • Heritage Schools Timeline
  • Our Migration Story presents the often untold stories of the generations of migrants who came to and shaped the British Isles
  • Moving Here explores, records and illustrates why people came to England over the last 200 years and what their experiences were and continue to be
  • Another England aims to better understand the stories of people of colour in England and to create an accessible public record of these histories and the places that are important to them
  • Runnymede Trust is the UK's leading independent race equality think tank. They generate intelligence to challenge race inequality in Britain through research, network building, leading debate, and policy engagement. The website provides a wealth of information and education resources.