In May 2014  ten students from Carter Community School came to Clouds Hill, the small cottage of T E Lawrence in Bovington, Dorset. There they learnt about Lawrence, World War I, and crusader castles, one of Lawrence’s greatest passions.

Watch our film here:

Carter students with Lawrence’s Brough

Clouds Hill volunteer guides, historians, archaeologists and soldiers shared their expert knowledge on Lawrence, brought World War I uniforms and passed around military artefacts excavated from the Great Arab Revolt in 1914.

Ottoman soldiers’ buttons found by archaeologist John Winterburn,The Great Arab Revolt Project, 

Photos: Tony Gill

We linked with International Pioneers Education School in Jordan to learn about Arabian castles. The Jordanian students made a film about their local citadel; Jabal Al Qala’a and we spoke about this on Skype.

Skype link with IPE students in Amman

Then we built our own Arabian castle on the hill behind Lawrence’s cottage, and performed a shadow dance to an audience of families and friends.

A film and a downloadable pack for schools can be seen on the schools page.

Thanks to the National Trust and their amazing volunteers, Bovington Army Camp, Arts University Bournemouth and The Great Arab Revolt Project, Bristol University

The project was run by Emerald Ant, and supported by

The National Lottery Heritage Lottery Fund ‘Sharing Heritage’, and the Ernest Cook Trust.