Today, Primary 6 took part in a historical walking tour of Portaferry. We used photographs from the 1900s to use as a comparison to see how Portaferry has changed over time. We took iPads with us to develop our photography skills and attempted to recreate the older images. We also had a special fact file with interesting information about the history of some local landmarks.
First, we visited the Windmill Hill. We correctly guessed that the Windmill was nearly 250 years old. We learned that it was built by the Savage family and was a working mill until it burned down on Christmas Day in 1878. We studied the old photograph and noted that 100 years ago there were far more trees and far less buildings.
We then walked down High Street where we saw lots of historic buildings. We tried to find the exact location that our photograph was taken. We used the interesting details in the doors of the building to locate the photograph to where Captain Jack’s chip shop is today!
Next, we walked in to the square and found it interesting that a fancy hotel building called ‘Nugent’s Arms’ was located where the Eurospar building is today. We noticed the old style of dress and buses in the old photograph and how there were lots of different types of shops in the square 100 years ago. We crossed the road to the Market House and were shocked to learn that a rebellion happened here in 1798! The market house was used as a fortress against the rebellion.
Finally, we finished our tour at Portaferry Castle. We found it interesting that not much had changed since our older photo was taken. We found a sign outside of the castle and learned that the castle was built by the Norman, Savage family in the late 1500s.
We thoroughly enjoyed our historical walking tour and learned lot about the history of our town. We didn’t realise that there were so many interesting places and can’t wait to visit the shore next week!
