Carlisle Pupils Create Historic Walking Trail In Tullie Takeover

Carlisle primary school pupils have created a new walking trail celebrating local history before taking over the city museum for a special day.

Year 6 pupils from Belle Vue Primary School worked with Tullie staff throughout the 2025/26 academic year as part of the museum’s Adopt A School project. The programme gave the children the opportunity to explore local history, culture and the stories connected with their own area.

One of the main outcomes of the project is a two-mile walking trail linking Belle Vue Primary School with Tullie. The route travels through the west of Carlisle and introduces families to a selection of historical locations and subjects along the way.

The trail has been designed to be accessible and engaging for families who want to explore the city while learning more about its past. Pupils researched significant places along the route and worked in small teams as they developed the content.

Among the subjects included on the trail is the story of a bear attack in Carlisle. The route also explores the city's former canal, the history of Carr's biscuit factory and the Roman foundations that remain an important part of Carlisle's heritage.

The pupils have contributed their own illustrations to a dedicated website supporting the trail. Audio recordings of the children discussing locations along the route are also available, alongside interviews with experts who provide additional historical context.

The project gave the children an opportunity to learn beyond the classroom while working directly with museum staff and local specialists. Their research required them to investigate locations and develop an understanding of how different parts of Carlisle have changed over time.

The school said the experience helped pupils become increasingly independent learners. Working in small groups allowed the children to take responsibility for researching individual locations and deciding how their findings could be shared with members of the public.

The walking trail is intended to remain available beyond the end of the school project. This gives the pupils an opportunity to create something that can continue to be used by local families and visitors while preserving the knowledge they developed during the programme.

To mark the completion of the year-long partnership, the pupils also took over Tullie for a day. They were given an insight into the day-to-day work involved in running the museum and were involved in welcoming visitors.

The children also had the opportunity to share their knowledge of Carlisle's history with members of the public. The experience allowed them to move from being learners and researchers to taking an active role in communicating local heritage.

Belle Vue headteacher Andrew Cairns said the project had been a particularly valuable experience for the pupils. He highlighted the way their knowledge and interest in the local area had developed during their work with museum staff and local experts.

Mr Cairns also said the children had become more independent through the project and had taken responsibility for their research. He added that creating something capable of being enjoyed by people for years to come had given the pupils an additional sense of purpose.

The school described the level of engagement among the children as high throughout the project. Staff said the pupils were proud of the work they produced and valued the opportunity to contribute to a project connected directly with their home city.

Anna Smalley, head of collections and engagement at Tullie, praised the creativity and enthusiasm shown by the pupils and teachers. She said the longer-term relationship with the school had provided an opportunity to engage children more deeply with local history and culture.

Tullie works with more than 100 schools and around 12,000 pupils across Cumbria each year. The Belle Vue project provided a more extended partnership, allowing pupils to work with museum staff over a longer period and develop a project with a lasting public legacy.

The completed trail now offers families another way to discover Carlisle's history while following a route created by local children. It also demonstrates how partnerships between schools and cultural organisations can give pupils practical opportunities to research, create and communicate their own understanding of local heritage.

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