Introduction
Fota House is full of clues, there are things to see and experience that can reveal much about the society that created it. A house can be used as a series of symbols that can be read to tell us about the social and cultural contexts of the era and society in which it was created.
Fota House and estate reflects political power – it symbolises its owner’s social position, his or her wealth, political and cultural values, confidence, power and even the owner’s ambition in society. Yet parts of Fota also reveal interdependency between those who lived and worked in the house. This can be seen in the extensive servant’s wing and by understanding how the family and their staff interacted.
Sometimes understanding the social and functional aspects of a big house in Ireland can be difficult without a context. This presentation combined with a visit to Fota House will help students gain a more concrete understanding of Life in a big house
The House visit:
During a visit to Fota House you will experience Fota house interpreted from a number of perspectives in order to give students a contextual understanding of life in a big house. During the visit students can gather information for a post visit project. As well as looking at the house and contents another aim of the workshop is that students will understand more about the relationship between people and place and what this can tell us about the society and culture of the time.
For example you will see how the architecture can tell us about the social ambition of John Smith Barry or how it masks the activities and domestic side of a household. This experiential learning is a very effective way to offer a greater understanding of concepts that may seem abstract to students.
We suggest you use the Rooms of Inspiration unit in three stages:
- Use the flipchart for a pre visit facilitated discussion in the classroom.
- Visit Fota House and Gardens for a workshop tailored around imaginative, responsive and critical analysis of the context and decor of the house
- Post visit project: students will create a themed mood board using visual and written notes focussing on classical, decorative or functional details from Fota House
Learning Outcomes
On completion of the three parts of this unit students will be able to:
- Recognise a range of classical architectural features and decorative devices.
- Have a greater understanding of the symbolism in architecture and decoration at Fota House
- Understand cultural and historical contexts
- Create a mood board with visual and written notes based on the architecture and decor at Fota.
Curriculum Links
Art History and Appreciation: this module will give students an understanding of the architectural and classical features of a Regency House. It can also be used as a basis for art and design projects or for portfolio preparation.
English: this module will give students an understanding of cultural context and social setting.
Introduction
Rooms of Inspiration: Learning to use Language at Fota House
Fota House is full of stories, there are things to see and experience and elements of sensory stimulation that can inspire students to express themselves using a range of language styles.
Sometimes understanding these language styles or genres can be difficult without a context. This presentation combined with a visit to Fota House will help students gain a more concrete understanding of some of the abstract terms that are used to explain language. The ultimate objective of this unit is for students to use one or more of the language genres to compose a short piece of writing that concerns an incident, a character or a setting ...or all three.
We suggest you use the Rooms of Inspiration unit in three stages:
- Use the flipchart for a pre visit facilitated discussion in the classroom.
- Visit Fota House and Gardens for a workshop tailored around imaginative, responsive and critical analysis of the context of the house in order to inspire and inform a piece of writing
- Post visit students will create a piece or writing about a setting, an incident or a character using a language genre of their choice based around a theme or context in Fota House.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of the three parts of this unit students will be able to:
- Recognise the language genre and identify its purpose
- Evaluate and critically respond to texts
- Understand cultural and historical contexts
- Understand the central concept of language as a powerful and multifunctional means of expression
- Compose their own text in a variety of genres
Teacher’s Notes
The flipchart has been designed to provide material based on themes connected to Fota House and can be used in the classroom for a pre visit lesson. It is structured to offer examples of the five language genres: the language of persuasion, narration, argument information and the language of aesthetics.
Click here to download the Flipchart.
Introduction
Politics and Parlourmaids – why we created this resource for Teachers of Transition Year Students
Fine rooms and object d’art are typically the centre pieces of historic house interpretation, and so often are the more prominent members of the family who occupied the house – particularly if like Arthur Hugh Smith Barry - the occupant was deeply involved in politics.
However at Fota House we use a range of evidence sources to mine information about the house and to offer a wider perspective on those who lived and worked in the house and the garden.
The objective of this unit is that students can have an informed debate on whether Political or social history is more useful to us in learning about the big house and estates in Ireland. That’s why we called it ‘Politics or Parlourmaids’.
The Three Stages of this Unit
We have created lesson plans to provide you with resources to carry out a project on and in Fota House in three stages:
- A pre visit session in the classroom using the flipchart
- A site visit to the house for and interactive workshop
- A post visit activity or project
One of our aims is to enable students to recognise that historical study is not concerned only with the powerful and influential but also with the ordinary and anonymous.
During a visit to Fota House you will see Fota house interpreted from a number of perspectives: there is a focus on servant spaces, domestic technology, and roles of servants.
Another aim of the workshop is that students will understand more about the relationship between people and place and what this can tell us about the society and culture of the time.
For example you will see how the architecture masks the activities and domestic side of a household. We also look at details of servants who are known to have worked at Fota, interaction between family and servants and personal service provided to family and guests. This experiential learning is a very effective way to offer a greater understanding of concepts that may seem abstract to students.
Family spaces are also be interpreted through the eyes of those who lived in them and as well as looking at Fota’s important political history we examine the lifestyle, social ritual and idiosyncrasies of the Smith Barry family.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the visit to Fota House the students will have gained a greater understanding of
- the big house as a sustainable unit
- the interdependency between those who lived in and those who worked in a big house
- the social rituals of the Ascendancy Class
- the house and estate as an economic hub in the Carrigtwohill area.
Aims of the workshop for students- to develop knowledge and conceptual and contextual understanding of the past
- to develop an awareness of different perspectives and interpretations of historical issues and to look at contentious or controversial issues from more than one perspective
- to develop an appreciation of the role, nature and variety of historical evidence.
- to help students make informed choices for Leaving Certificate subject areas and projects
- to encourage a spirit of enquiry about the past through experiential learning and to encourage a higher level of analysis
Syllabus Focus of Politics or ParlourmaidsHistory - Later Modern Irish History; Movements for social a political reform 1870-1914: Society and Economy
English - cultural context and social setting
Practical Applications of his UnitThis unit and on site workshop will provide students with a wider contextual understanding of key concepts and personalities in order to identify, understand, analyse and draw conclusions from a range of multi perspectival historical evidence.
It is ideal for Transition Year students who are embarking upon a history research project or for Fifth Year students who are developing ideas for the Leaving Certificate History special research topic.
In relation to the English syllabus this unit will help students to gain a higher conceptual understanding of cultural context and social setting.
This unit also is also useful for students who are compiling an art portfolio, as inspiration for art design and craft projects and also will have additional benefit to those who wish to gather information and visual notes for practical art projects and for the Art History and Appreciation syllabus. Fota House has a number of important classical features and by visiting and consulting our resource material, students can build up their vocabulary of classical terms.
Key concepts in this Unit- Anglicisation
- Anglo Irish – Ascendancy
- Land agitation and land reform
- Post famine economy and the estate as an economic hub
- Sustainability
- Social history in context
Click here to access the Politics & Parlour Maids Teacher's Notes.
- This unit has been developed for students of Leaving Certificate English and History who are studying The Last September as a text for their exam, or are studying ‘The Pursuit of Sovereignty and the Impact of Partition, 1912-49'. It aims to give students a clear impression of the political events happening in Cork during September 1920, a month in which violence and tension was escalating in both city and county. Using a case study approach, students use the Web to gather news stories for a publication/broadcast about September 1920.
- Exhibitions and related themes feature regularly on the Leaving Certificate Art History and Appreciation paper. We have developed this unit to encourage students to analyse an exhibition, and to think critically about how it is planned and designed in different contexts and spaces. You can use this unit to provide the basis for an exhibition design project using a visit to Fota House as inspiration.
- The aim of this unit is for students to develop a sketchbook or mood board where they can record their personal responses to the design of Fota and the domestic interior of the Regency period. The unit is intended to enable students to make connections with and develop themes relating to the house, gardens, arboretum and collection at Fota from observational sketches. Our objective is to encourage students to take a critical look at the architectural style of Fota and also the functional design of the house by observing and recording these elements with particular reference to texture and pattern and use of space in a big house.
- This unit is designed to chime with two aspects of the Leaving Cert English curriculum: cultural context/social setting and creative writing. In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries some of the finest Irish novels to be written were created by residents of the big house. The spaces and rituals of the house, along with the political turmoil outside the demesne wall form both backdrop and narrative. In this unit works by George Moore, Somerville and Ross, and Elizabeth Bowen are discussed as exemplars of the type. Students are then set the challenge of composing their own piece of creative writing following a trip to Fota.
- We have designed this unit to give students a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes at a historic property. It looks at what attracts visitors and what they like to do when they are there. The unit focuses on an event planning and marketing assignment with the aim of encouraging students develop an understanding of the role of product development, marketing and audience focus in the heritage sector today.
- An understanding of the Land Acts and the Land War form an integral part of the Leaving Cert History Syllabus. We have designed this unit to develop students understanding of this subject in the context of Fota House, its landlord and its tenants. Students are asked to examine original documents and photographs in order to assess the impact of the Land Acts/War on Fota.
