Last week, Year 4 were treated to a talk from expert historian Maria Gayton , from Dorset History Centre. Maria was here to tell us the fascinating story of William John Bankes, an 18th century explorer and Egyptologist, from Dorset.
We Maria brought his story to life with stories and pictures from Bankes’ eventful life. Most interesting of all, to us budding Egyptologists was the stories of his trips to Egypt and his ambitious idea to bring an ancient Egyptian obelisk back to his home at Kingston Lacy.
It is hard to always understand how history fits together and the children were particularly interested in the fact that a man that lived over 200 years ago was looking into a time, thousands of years ago.
Maria was very impressed with the children’s knowledge and understanding of ancient Egypt and the fact that many of the them had visited some of the places discussed such as Corfe Castle and Kingston Lacy.
We are very grateful for a Maria coming to visit us and sharing her knowledge and adding to ours!
