With citizenship and history learning at its heart, the Houses of History timeline provides a stimulating and engaging account of the history of Parliament, from the shift in power from monarch to population to the emergence of universal suffrage.
The timeline
Scroll through one thousand years of history. Watch the Palace of Westminster grow out of a swamp into the iconic landmark we know today.
- View images from Parliament's art collection showing the evolution of the building
- Explore over fifty key events
- Watch sixteen of the most significant moments brought to life through light-hearted animations
Launch Houses of History timeline
Select a theme
You can choose a theme in the timeline to focus on specific political and social developments. The eight themes that tie in closely with curriculum areas are:
Challenges
Eight ready-to-use writing challenges for students to get stuck in to.
Curriculum links
View all Houses of History curriculum links for England, Wales, Schotland and Northern Ireland.
Video
Nearly one thousand years comes to life in this animated video about the history of Parliament.
Articles
You can read more than fifty authoritative and engaging accounts of the story of Parliament.
- Articles accompany the key events, complete with images, quotations and further links
My project
Ask your students to create a newspaper article, complete with images and quotations collected from the timeline.
- Write your own newspaper headline, caption and article
- Switch seamlessly between the timeline and your project as you research your article
- Collect up to ten images and ten quotations from the timeline articles
- Add your favourite image and quotation to the newspaper layout
- Print your work or save your project locally and reload it
The newspaper tool is best exploited when students are tasked with a particular challenge. We've created example writing challenges for each theme. Each challenge is accompanied by a set of questions to focus the investigation and provide structure for the article.
Technical requirements
Houses of History requires version 10 or later of the free Flash plug-in (link opens in new window). The resource is best viewed with a fast internet connection due to the number of images and animations.
Help
Instructions are available for both the timeline and newspaper tool.
- Access the help screen by clicking the button marked '?' at the top right of the resource
Copyright
Houses of History contains a wealth of images from Parliament's collection and other sources. Images are credited where possible within the resource and a full list of copyright information can be found below.