Schools

With 1700 years of history, Portchester Castle covers everything from the Romans, to medieval kings, all the way to the Napoleonic Wars. Follow in their footsteps and explore its exciting and varied history.

"The children had a great day - a very informative visit"

KS2 Teacher

Curriculum Links

Portchester Castle covers multiple time periods within the history curriculum, as well as cross-curricular links across numerous subjects.

KS1 History: Identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different time periods; significant historical events, people and places in their own locality
KS2 History: The Roman Empire and its impact on Britain. Britain's settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots. A study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends the pupils' chronological knowledge beyond 1066
KS2-3 History: A local history study
KS3 History: The development of church, state and society in Medieval Britain 1066-1509. Ideas, political power, industry & empire: Britain 1745-1901: the French Revolutionary wars & Napoloeonic wars

Free Self-Led Visits

Enjoy a free self-led visit to Portchester Castle and design your own day to suit your curriculum needs. Walk within the Roman walls, explore the ruins of Richard II's Palace and stand at the top of the Great Tower to survey the landscape. Discover the more recent history of the castle as a prison during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, when it housed up to 8,000 prisoners at any one time, including black and mixed race prisoners from the Caribbean. Download our resources at the bottom of this page for historical information and activity suggestions to support your visit.

Enquire now

Expert-led Discovery Visits

Immerse your class in the history of Portchester Castle. Our costumed re-enactors will lead your pupils on a hands-on Discovery Visit. At just £100 per session, they're a great way to delve deeper into the history of the castle and the people who lived there.

Our Discovery Visits have been adapted to follow health and safety guidelines and will still offer your students a quality and fun learning experience.

Find out more

Plan Your Trip

We have a wide range of materials to support your visit and make school trip planning easy. You can find all our site-specific information and tools below, and for Covid-19 risk assessments and measures we’ve got in place please visit our what to expect page.

Download our free resources to help you make the most out of your visit and create unique learning experiences before, during and after your trip. We also offer free planning visits for group leaders once you have made a booking. Visit our bookings page to start planning your trip!

Facilities
COURTYARD AND CASTLE GROUNDS: All outdoor areas within the castle walls will be open.

KEEP AND INDOOR AREAS: The castle keep and other indoor areas will be open, using a one way system monitored by members of castle staff. The castle keep roof will remain closed.

EXHIBITION: The castle's exhibition is open for you to enjoy.

PARKING: Free car park, 200m from entrance with 100 parking spaces. Disabled parking is available in the car park. There is space for 3 coaches. The car park is managed by Fareham Borough Council.

TOILETS: Unfortunately there are no toilets inside Portchester Castle. Public toilets, including accessible toilets, are available in the car park. These are managed by Fareham Borough Council.

BAG STORAGE: Waterproof boxes will be provided for pupils to store their lunch boxes in.

LUNCH: You are welcome to bring a picnic and eat in the Outer Bailey, or there is a dedicated picnic area in the Inner Bailey, with picnic benches.

EDUCATION ROOM: The education room is currently unavailable.

Hazard Information
A useful tool to help with your risk assessments.

Portchester Castle Hazard Information.pdf (60.4 KB)

Discovery Visits
Our Discovery Visit information provides you with everything you need to know about our expert-led Discovery Visits at Portchester Castle. It includes a breakdown of the learning objectives and details on how to prepare for the sessions to take the hassle out of planning.

In the Footsteps of Kings (KS1-KS2)

Melodrama at Portchester Castle Discovery Visit (KS2-KS3)

Risk Assessments
Our ready-made Discovery Visit Risk Assessments take the hassle out of planning.

In the Footsteps of Kings Risk Assessment.pdf (81.5 KB)

Melodrama at the Castle Risk Assessment.pdf (80.7 KB)

Learning Resources
A Teachers' Kit is a free educational tool packed with everything you need to give your group a deep insight into the place you are visiting. Featuring historical information, suggestions for activities, and high-quality images, this resource is a comprehensive toolkit for group leaders of various subjects and key stages. Teachers’ Kits also include key site information, facilities and plans.

Portchester Castle Teachers' Kit (KS1-KS4+).pdf (6.9 MB)

Use our Learning Pack to explore the story of French Prisoners of War at Portchester Castle in the early 1800s. Find out more about how they formed a theatrical troupe and staged plays for their fellow prisoners and the local community.

Performance at Portchester Castle Learning Pack (KS2-KS4+).pdf (9.5 MB)

With all history GCSEs now requiring a study of the historic environment, we’ve also created a site proposal form to help you with your planning in conjunction with OCR.

Portchester Castle OCR Spec B: History Around Us (GCSE).pdf (234 KB)

Education Site Opening Times
We offer free self-led education visits during school term time^*. From November until March we open exclusively for education groups at selected sites when booking an expert-led Discovery Visit. See our education opening times below for individual site information.

^*Free education visits are not offered on UK public holidays or during the operation of additional fee paying public events at English Heritage sites.

April-October: Monday-Friday 10-5pm. Discovery Visits available Monday-Friday

November-16 December: Monday and Friday 10-4pm. Discovery Visits available Monday and Friday

17 December-28 February: Closed

March: Monday and Friday 10-4pm. Discovery Visits available Monday and Friday

Enquire now

0370 333 0606

bookeducation@english-heritage.org.uk

Book online
Visit our bookings page to start your enquiry. All bookings must be made at least 14 days in advance. Please make sure you check our terms and conditions ahead of your visit.

If you’d like more information about a site or one of our workshops, get in touch using the online form on our bookings page to speak to your local Education Visits Officer. We look forward to seeing you soon.