Key term
OCR GCSE History A J410
Castles: Form and Function c.1000–1750Historic environment
Topic overviewThe location of Kenilworth CastleThe appearance and layout of Kenilworth Castle at different times in its historyThe day-to-day functions of Kenilworth CastleThe evidence historians use for a castle’s changing functionLife in Kenilworth Castle at different times in its historyKey events associated with Kenilworth Castle at different times in its history
China 1950–1981: The People and the StateDepth study
Topic overviewEarly purges, the Hundred Flowers and social policy in the 1950sLand reform, collectivisation, the First Five Year Plan and the Great Leap ForwardCauses and impact of the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards and TibetThe nature of Communist propaganda and its impactCommunism in China after the death of Mao 1976–1981The Communist state and the Chinese people
Germany 1925–1955: The People and the StateDepth study
Topic overviewThe Weimar Republic 1925–1928 and the impact of the DepressionRising support for Nazis 1929–1933The Nazi consolidation of power 1933–1934The Nazi terror state, propaganda and the people's communityNazi economic and social policy, and the lack of effective oppositionReaction to war, changing fortunes and the home front 1939–1945Racial persecution, the Holocaust and opposition during the warDefeat, occupation and the two Germanys 1945–1955The state and the German people, 1925–1955
International Relations: The Changing International Order 1918–1975
Topic overviewThe Versailles settlement, the League and the agreements of the 1920sThe Depression, the failure of the League and the road to warSoviet actions in Eastern Europe and the Western response, 1945–48NATO, the Warsaw Pact, the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile CrisisOrigins of US involvement in Vietnam and the tactics of the warUS withdrawal from Vietnam, opposition at home and the end of the warChanging interpretations of AppeasementChanging interpretations of the responsibility for the Cold WarThe big ideas behind the twentieth-century international order
Migration to Britain c.1000 to c.2010Thematic study
Topic overviewDiversity before 1066, and the impact of the Norman ConquestJews in medieval England: treatment, integration and expulsionResident aliens in later medieval EnglandAfricans in sixteenth-century England, the East India Company and Britain’s black communitiesThe readmission of Jews in 1656, and Protestant refugeesIndustrial-age migration: the Irish, Eastern European Jews, abolition and ChartismNaturalisation, port communities and immigration law 1870–1948Attitudes towards Jews in the 1930s and migrants in the two world warsThe impact of post-war migration on BritainImmigration as a political issue c.1990–c.2010The big questions about migration to Britain
Personal Rule to Restoration 1629–1660British depth
Topic overviewRelationship between Parliament and Charles I 1629–1642Attempts at settlement, the radical groups and the Army 1646–1649The execution of Charles I 1649The Rump, Cromwell and the Protectorate 1649–1658Attempts to reach a settlement September 1658 – April 1660The tensions that led to war, and the changes that followed
Power: Monarchy and Democracy in Britain c.1000 to 2014Thematic study
Topic overviewAnglo-Saxon kingship, 1066 and the Norman monarchyMagna Carta and the emergence of ParliamentRichard II’s deposition and the Wars of the RosesTudor government, personal rule and the Civil WarsThe Restoration, 1688 and the Bill of RightsThe rise of political parties and a parliamentary monarchyParliament and the people, c.1800–c.1918: reform and the unionsVotes for women, and the state in war and peaceChallenges to Parliament since 1980Claiming, keeping and losing power
South Africa 1960–1994: The People and the StateDepth study
Topic overviewConsolidating apartheid in the 1960s: the Bantustans, state control and SharpevilleReasons for, methods of and impact of different types of resistanceThe further development of resistanceThe Anti-Apartheid Movement and the regime's response in the 1970sGrowing pressure on the regimeThe State of Emergency and the failure of total strategy 1985–1990Negotiations between the government and the ANCThe state and the South African people, 1960–1994
The English Reformation c.1520–c.1550British depth
Topic overviewThe church in England c.1520 and its criticsPopular attitudes to reform, the annulment and the Reformation ParliamentCromwell, the Valor Ecclesiasticus and the dissolution of the monasteriesImmediate reactions to Dissolution including supportResistance and protestDevelopment and changes in religious policy under Henry VIII and Edward VIEnforcing the new religious policies and the Prayer Book Rebellion 1549The English Church before and after the Reformation
The Impact of Empire on Britain 1688–c.1730British depth
Topic overviewThe Glorious Revolution, the Hanoverian succession and the British IslesDarien, the Act of Union, the 1715 rising and emigration to the AmericasEconomic impact of war and imperial expansionThe Treaty of Utrecht, the South Sea Bubble and the slave-based colonial economyConsumerism, the slave-trading ports and the coffee housesIdeas of racial hierarchy, and opposition and resistance to slaveryWhat empire did to Britain and the British Isles
The USA 1919–1948: The People and the StateDepth study
Topic overviewThe US economy and women in the ‘Roaring Twenties’Prohibition, the Red Scare and immigration restrictionsJim Crow, the Ku Klux Klan and attempts to combat prejudiceEconomic and social effects of the Great Depression and government responseThe Second New DealThe mobilisation of the US people for the war effortSocial impact of the warThe Detroit Race Riots 1943 and segregation in the armed forcesThe state and the American people, 1919–1948
The USA 1945–1974: The People and the StateDepth study
Topic overviewFears of Communism at home, the Red Scare and McCarthyismJim Crow and the development and achievements of the civil rights movementOpposition to civil rights and the role of the Supreme Court and EisenhowerThe roles of Kennedy and Johnson in civil rights campaignsBlack Power, radical leaders, and Native American and Chicano campaignsThe impact of feminismStonewall, anti-war protest and the Great SocietyThe state and the American people, 1945–1974
Urban Environments: Patterns of MigrationHistoric environment
Topic overviewWhen immigrant groups arrived, why and from whereSpitalfields: who came, when and whyWhere immigrants settled and how they were receivedSettling in Spitalfields, and how newcomers were receivedThe experiences of immigrantsWork, housing and faith in SpitalfieldsKey events in local migration historyAltab Ali, Brick Lane 1978 and other key events in SpitalfieldsThe impact of migration on the areaSpitalfields today: impact and the multicultural communityReading an urban site for its migration historyReading the buildings, maps and records of Spitalfields
War and British Society c.790 to c.2010Thematic study
Topic overviewViking raids and the Norman ConquestThe feudal system and feudal military serviceWar in medieval society, c.1290–c.1450Elizabeth I’s wars with Spain, and English privateersBorder warfare, the Civil Wars and the Jacobite risingsImperial wars of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuriesThe Crimean War and the Boer WarsThe two world wars and the Cold WarThe IRA campaigns and conflict since 1945What war did to British people and their rulers
Castles: Form and Function c.1000–1750
- 6 subtopics
- 18 things to know
- Paper 3
- Paper 3, the historic environment tied to the thematic study
What Castles: Form and Function c.1000–1750 covers
Castles: Form and Function c.1000–1750 is examined in Paper 3, British depth study with a study of the historic environment. It covers the location of Kenilworth Castle, the appearance and layout of Kenilworth Castle at different times in its history, the day-to-day functions of Kenilworth Castle, the evidence historians use for a castle’s changing function, life in Kenilworth Castle at different times in its history and key events associated with Kenilworth Castle at different times in its history.
Where it is assessed
Paper 3
The historic environment tied to the thematic study; 25% of the GCSE with the British depth study.
Check the OCR specification ↗The 6 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- The location of Kenilworth CastleWhy a Midlands castle mattered to king and rebels, the site near Warwick and the Forest of Arden, the red sandstone, the Great Mere and what old maps and Dugdale's Antiquities show.Open →
- The appearance and layout of Kenilworth Castle at different times in its historyThe first motte and bailey, Caesar's Tower, the causeway dam, John of Gaunt's great hall, the outer towers and King John's walls, the Pleasance, Dudley's additions, the slighting of 1649, what the changes reveal, and contracts, aerial photographs and drawings as evidence.Open →
- The day-to-day functions of Kenilworth CastleHow castles let a few Normans hold England, Geoffrey de Clinton's founding and the Crown's seizure in the 1170s, the castle as a display of power, why kings kept it in loyal hands, estate business, justice, service buildings and changing private living space.Open →
- The evidence historians use for a castle’s changing functionLicences to crenellate and to enclose a deer park, newsbooks of the 1640s, the parliamentary survey of 1649, building accounts, the stonework, excavation and why no argument rests on one source.Open →
- Life in Kenilworth Castle at different times in its historyGeoffrey de Clinton's priory, Simon de Montfort, the Lancastrian earls and John of Gaunt, the Tudor and Stuart owners, Elizabeth I's visit in 1575, the castle's workers, and what accounts and inventories reveal.Open →
- Key events associated with Kenilworth Castle at different times in its historySimon de Montfort and the barons' war, the siege of 1266 and the Dictum of Kenilworth, Thomas of Lancaster's rebellion, the imprisonment of Edward II, the border wars and the Civil War garrison.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
How was the castle used in the wars fought on the Welsh and Scottish borders?
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Which great stretch of woodland lay around the castle, and what did its lords take from it?
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What building material gives Kenilworth its distinctive red colour?
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What did the first castle on the site, raised in the 1120s, look like?
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Which towers defended the outer wall and the entrance from the causeway?
Numbers
How did the castle come into the hands of the Crown in the 1170s?
Numbers
Why were kings so anxious to keep Kenilworth in loyal hands?
Key term
Why can a licence to fortify mislead a historian about what was actually built?
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What did the survey made for Parliament in 1649 record?
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What else did Geoffrey de Clinton found at Kenilworth besides his castle?
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What methods did Henry III use against the castle in 1266?
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Which two streams were dammed beside the castle, and what did the dams create?
Numbers
Who paid for the outer stone curtain wall and the water defences, and roughly when?
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What estate business was carried on inside the castle?
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What do building accounts reveal about how a castle was being used?
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Which brother of Edward I received the castle in 1267, and what did his grant begin?
Numbers
Which owner of the castle rebelled against Edward II, and what happened to him?
Take Castles: Form and Function c.1000–1750 further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Motte and bailey vs Caesar's Tower
Motte and bailey: earth mound carrying a timber keep above a palisaded courtyard. Caesar's Tower: massive square Norman stone keep with walls four metres thick.
Great Mere vs Pleasance
Great Mere: artificial lake of about a hundred acres made by damming two brooks. Pleasance: moated timber banqueting house built by Henry V across the lake.
Licence to crenellate vs Licence to enclose a deer park
Licence to crenellate: the king's written permission for a subject to fortify his house. Licence to enclose a deer park: royal permission to turn the land around a castle into hunting ground.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Why did a castle standing in the middle of England matter so much to the king and to his greatest subjects?
Model answer
It sat close to the roads crossing the Midlands, so whoever held it could move men quickly towards London, Wales, the north or the west.
- 2
Why did Geoffrey de Clinton choose a site only a few miles from Warwick for his new castle in the 1120s?
Model answer
Henry I wanted a stronghold held by a loyal servant right beside the lands of the powerful Earl of Warwick, to keep the earl in check.
- 3
Why did rebels against the Crown find Kenilworth such a useful base?
Model answer
It was strong enough to hold out for months and stood in the heart of the kingdom, so a rebel garrison there threatened royal control of the whole Midlands.
- 4
Where in England does Kenilworth Castle stand?
Model answer
In Warwickshire in the Midlands, about five miles north of Warwick and about five miles south-west of Coventry, one of medieval England's richest towns.
- 5
Which great stretch of woodland lay around the castle, and what did its lords take from it?
Model answer
The Forest of Arden, which supplied timber for building, fuel for the fires and deer for hunting in the castle's parks and chase.
- 6
What building material gives Kenilworth its distinctive red colour?
Model answer
Red sandstone quarried in the district around the castle, so the stone did not have to be carried far.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Castles: Form and Function c.1000–1750 revision questions
- What does Castles: Form and Function c.1000–1750 cover in OCR GCSE History A?
- 6 subtopics: the location of kenilworth castle, the appearance and layout of kenilworth castle at different times in its history, the day-to-day functions of kenilworth castle, the evidence historians use for a castle’s changing function, life in kenilworth castle at different times in its history and key events associated with kenilworth castle at different times in its history. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Castles: Form and Function c.1000–1750 organised?
- By the OCR J410 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Castles: Form and Function c.1000–1750, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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