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Year 4 · After the Romans: Anglo-Saxons and Scots

Anglo-Saxons and Scots settle in Britain

Britain's settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots

25 minutes4 checks6 exit questionsNational curriculum objective

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Britain's settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots

Key learning points

  • • Who arrived
  • • Not one invasion
  • • Kingdoms, not one country
  • • Clues left in the map

This lesson at a glance

  • 25 minutes
  • 20 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • No marked quiz yet
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

britainsettlementanglo-saxonsarrivedinvasion

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 20 · Intro5%
1

Introduction

Part 1 of 20

Anglo-Saxons and Scots settle in Britain illustrationArchive-led lesson

Historical enquiry

Anglo-Saxons and Scots settle in Britain

When Rome's soldiers left, Britain did not empty. New people arrived from across the North Sea, and others moved in from Ireland.

In a nutshell

Britain's settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 20

Before we start

What you already know

You know Roman rule in Britain ended around AD 410.

Recap: y4-history-2
3

Key words

Part 3 of 20

Key words

Words you'll need today

settle
To arrive somewhere and make it your home.
kingdom
Land ruled by a king or queen.
place name
The name of a town or village, often left by settlers.
migration
People moving from one place to live in another.
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 20

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 — Who came, and from where

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 20

Learn

Who arrived

People we call Angles, Saxons and Jutes crossed from what is now Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands from around AD 410 onwards. At the same time Scots crossed from Ireland into western Scotland. Some came as raiders, many more as farming families looking for land.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 20

Learn

Not one invasion

This was not a single army on a single day. It happened slowly over two hundred years, in small groups, boat by boat. Some British families stayed and lived alongside the newcomers; others moved west into Wales and Cornwall.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 20

Quick check

Roughly when did Anglo-Saxon settlement begin?

8

Quick check

Part 8 of 20

Quick check

The Scots crossed into Britain from...

9

Reset break

Part 9 of 20

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 20

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 — The Britain they made

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 20

Learn

Kingdoms, not one country

By AD 600 Britain held several kingdoms: Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Wessex, Kent, Sussex and Essex, and in the north the kingdoms of the Scots and Picts. They fought each other as often as anyone else. England as one country was still centuries away.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 20

Learn

Clues left in the map

Anglo-Saxon settlers left their words in our place names. '-ham' meant a home or village, '-ton' a farm or enclosure, '-ing' the people of someone. So Birmingham, Brighton and Reading all carry Anglo-Saxon endings. Look at a map near you and you can often spot them.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 20

Quick check

Which is an Anglo-Saxon place-name ending?

14

Quick check

Part 14 of 20

Quick check

By AD 600, Britain was...

15

Investigate evidence

Part 15 of 20

Evidence 1 of 1

object

The Sutton Hoo ship burial

An East Anglian royal household, Buried early 7th century AD

A whole ship buried under a mound with a decorated helmet, gold shoulder-clasps, a sword, silver bowls and coins from far away.

Nobody wrote this burial down. Everything we know comes from digging it carefully and recording exactly where each object lay.

Think like a historian

The grave held coins made overseas. What does that tell you about Anglo-Saxon England — and what does it still not tell you?

Source: The British Museum, Sutton Hoo collection; National Trust, Sutton Hoo, Suffolk

View the archive record ↗
16

Common mix-ups

Part 16 of 20

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • Thinking the Anglo-Saxons arrived all at once as one invading army.
  • Thinking every British person left or was killed. Many stayed.
  • Thinking 'England' existed straight away. There were several rival kingdoms first.
17

Challenge round

Part 17 of 20

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

18

Challenge round

Part 18 of 20

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

By AD 600 ____ held several kingdoms: Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Wessex, Kent, Sussex and Essex, and in the north the kingdoms of the Scots and Picts.

19

Mastery quiz

Part 19 of 20

No quiz for this one

This lesson has no marked quiz attached yet.

20

Lesson round-up

Part 20 of 20

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Source

A factory inspector's notebook, 1842

"I visited the mill at seven in the morning. The machines were already running. I counted fourteen children at the frames, the youngest no more than nine years of age. The overseer told me they work from six until seven, with forty minutes for dinner."

"The air is thick with cotton dust and the windows are kept shut so the thread does not break. Two of the children showed me hands cut by the shuttles. The owner assured me that the work is light and that the families beg him for the places, since without the children's wages the rent cannot be paid."

"I have written to the magistrates. I doubt much will follow from it."

Original source-style text written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Who wrote this, when, and why might that make it useful to a historian?
  2. What does the source tell you about children's work — and what does it not tell you?
  3. How far does this source show that mill owners were to blame? Answer with a judgement and evidence.

Source for this lesson

Use this for the source work task below.

The Sutton Hoo ship burial

object

An East Anglian royal household, Buried early 7th century AD

A whole ship buried under a mound with a decorated helmet, gold shoulder-clasps, a sword, silver bowls and coins from far away.

Nobody wrote this burial down. Everything we know comes from digging it carefully and recording exactly where each object lay.

Source: The British Museum, Sutton Hoo collection; National Trust, Sutton Hoo, Suffolk

View the original record ↗

  • Source work

    Reading

    Read the source closely. Write who made it, when, and what it tells you — then what it does not tell you.

    2 paragraphs

  • Essay answer

    Writing

    Answer the enquiry question with a clear judgement. Use two pieces of evidence and finish with a sentence that weighs them up.

    300–400 words

  • Timeline

    Diagram

    Draw a timeline of the events in this lesson with dates, then photograph it.

    6–8 events

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 20 · Introduction

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