21st - 22nd August, Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre, Leicestershire

(commemorating the battle anniversary at the Heritage centre)

BOSWORTH BATTLEFIELD HERITAGE EVENT

Much affected by Covid uncertainties, the annual Medieval Festival at Bosworth went ahead in a reduced format this year ... a Living History and Commemoration, but without the big reenactment and Medieval Fair.

 

(my DBA version of the battle on the Battlefields Trust stand)

 

The Battlefields Trust were happy to support the event, and went along with my 54mm DBA version of the battle as part of the BT stand.

 

Indeed, Julian H had his 'Wars of the Roses in 10 minutes' in the lecture pavilion, using swoppets, and a team of locl wargamers were doing a big version of the battle using Never Mind the Billhooks opposte us - so, after my subtle introduction of the figures back in 2014, model soldiers and wargame approaches now seem to be bedded in at Bosworth! 

 

 

(this year, the Battlefields Trust stand was strategically placd on the commemorative procession route)

 

(Henry's mercenaries 'ready for battle at Bosworth Battlefield')

 

(scenes from Bosworth 2021 ... including the lecture pavilion, Richard in battle and Living History displays)

(miniature action at Bosworth: DBA )

 

(miniature action at Bosworth: Never Mind the Billhooks) 

 

So a lower key event than usual at Bosworth, this year, but more time to meet people, forge links and reflect on the tumultuous events of 1485.  A place-holder for the return of the big battle next year - and a rare opportunity for me to do both days ... usually the Sunday of Bosworth is Partizan in Newark (which, this year, again fell victim to the pestillence) ...

The good news, however, is that the Autumn version of the show The Other Partizan is confirmed for October - and things are looking good.  Ancients is back on the move, you might say.  Our odyssey continues.

 

(roses are laid at the Bosworth sundial)

The Battlefields Trust

Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre

The Wars of the Roses in Northamptonshire

July is that special month at the heart of the English campaigning season which saw fighting on both of Northamptonshire's 'Wars of the Roses' battlefields, Northampton 1460 and Edgcote 1469.  As a consequence, locally, it is a month of anniversary walks, talks and events.

 

(Northampton 1460 ... the visitors gather)

July 10th saw us stretched with both the commemoration of the battle at Northampton and a fete at nearby Naseby.  We had a (pre-booked, Covid compliant) capacity crowd for a morning walk on the 1460 battlefield - from Delapre Abbey to the Eleanor Cross (from which the primary sources tell us the battle was watched by the Archbishop of Canterbury).

 

(Northampton 1460: the view from the top of the battlefield)

 

(the view from the top of the battlefield - another way of visualising)

At the Eleanor Cross, Mike completed his account of the battle before handing over to me for a potted history of the monument (and its recent conservation), plus its part both in the events of 1460 and 1469 (when according to the Herbert family history, it was where the earl of Pembroke, and his brother, Sir Richard Herbert, were executed by Warwick in the wake of his victory at Edgcote).

 

(10th July 2021 at the Eleanor Cross, Northampton) 

At 2pm, the time of Warwick's attack at Northampton, we had a brief wreath laying with the town Mayor in remembrance of the fallen in this battle and more widely in wars and civil conflict.

With the weather on our side, we were then able to mix and meet with  members of the battlefield society and general visitors more informally.  We had a table up and a range of publications, so could recruit new members, hand out leaflets etc.  Almost back to normal.

 

(almost back to normal: Graham recruiting members at the Eleanor Cross) 

Towards the other end of the month, we were out on the trackways at Edgcote (spelt that way - no 'e' - and, contra Royal Mail, no 'Moor' tacked on).

Although commonly pinned to the 26th, as we have demonstrated, the battle of Edgcote was fought on 24th July, the eve of the feast of St James.  Another thing the Royal Mail got wrong.  It was such a pity they didn't consult the Battlefields Trust or the local battlefield society (ourselves) or just get someone to look it up in the most recent publication on the battle (Graham's book).

 

(first stop on the 2021 Edgcote anniversary walk)

Edgcote battlefield is threatened both by HS2 and by a proposed solar farm that has tried to slip into the landscape on the coat tails of HS2 ... so it was good to see the battlefield in reasonably good order and still fully accessible to the visitor.

Some of the fields didn't seem to have been as 'active' as usual ... whether this was Covid neglect of HS2 blight was unclear.

 

(me talking about medieval battle at Edgcote)

 

 

(Graham pointing out the rebel positions at Edgcote)

 

(looking back at the Royalist position)

 

(Graham Turner's visualisation of the Royalist lines)

 

 

(looking into the dead ground behind the rebel position - it is probably via this hollow that Clapham's unseen reinforcements approached the battlefield) 

 

 

(click to enlarge ... an attempt to pin the views to their positions on the battlefield)

 

A few weeks later, I was back on Northampton battlefield doing an evening walk and interpretation for the Friends of Kettering Art Gallery and Museum.

 

July is also 'awards season' in Northamptonshire, and I'm pleased to be able to report that having done well in a number of specific categories, NBS was given a special 'judges choice' award in recognition of our innovative and determined work to preserve and publicise historic battlefields and to keep public engagement up throughout the Covid restrictions.  They particularly liked the toy soldier displays and miniature battlefields.

 

Next month sees the anniversary of Bosworth.

Online Conference 1st May - The Medieval Battlefield

 

Just sharing the great news of the Battlefields Trust's reconfigured Annual Conference: now online at a fraction of the original, residential, cost - and one day, 10 til 4:30 (£25, any procees from which will go directly towards protecting Britain's endangered battlefields).

Regulars here will be delighted to hear that the high profile speaker list includes several Society of Ancients luminaries ... Thom (Royal Armouries) Richardson, Graham (wargaming4grownups) Evans and Matthew (Sandhurst) Bennett, these days, of course, one of the Society's Life Vice Presidents.

The Conference will be chaired by Professor Anne Curry, and is being organised by me.                         

Click here for Conference Details

Morning:

• Thom Richardson: mail and plate armour
• Graham Evans: Edgcote - the Source of the Problems

Afternoon:

• panel discussion on battlefield numbers (Anne Curry; Matt Bennett; Sophie Ambler; Graham Evans)
• Dan Spencer: Gunpowder Weapons in the Wars of the Roses
• Mike Ingram: Northampton 1460 

It is going to be a fascinating day, and I am sure some new stuff is going to emerge.

17th August, Bosworth, Leicestershire

 

Another Big Weekend: Part One

The weather forecast wasn't too bad for the first day of Bosworth's annual Medieval Festival and battle anniversary weekend.  When I arrived ahead of public admission, the site was still being fed by tractor with fresh straw but the sun was shining.

 

(with the Battlefields Trust at Bosworth 2019)

I was with the Battlefields Trust again, and David had asked me to bring the DBA Bosworth game as an interpretation aid and general eye-catcher. Saturday only, of course, due to how crowded 'heritage' August has now become, but it gives the stand a nice mix.

The battle was fought 22nd August 1485 and the main attraction of the festival weekend is a grand battle in the show arena each afternoon restaging a narrative of the engagement.  It is very big by the general standard for medieval pageants, and this year the artillery was particularly loud and set off car alarms in the adjacent car park.

 

(battle reenactment at Bosworth 2019)

 

 

(Bosworth 2019: the jester attracted a big crowd and by midday the ground was dry enough to sit on) 

 

(Bosworth 2019: 10 minute battles with Swoppets) 

 

Some pictures of the Bosworth game 

I am pleased to have inspired the Development Officer to build up a small collection of Swoppets to do his 10 minute battles with ... it is an example of the toy soldier thing going mainstream and directly follows up on the battle dioramas and demos I have done ay various shows over recent years.

I will take the DBA game along to the Conference this year as Richard has chosen Bosworth for the BattleDay in 2020 (which will be the 535th anniversary year) but it has not been out for a while and I was pleased with the look and utility of the big figures.

 

(Bosworth 1485: Richard's artillery)

 

 

(Bosworth 1485: Norfolk's solid line)

(Bosworth 1485: Oxford's slender line taking casualties and rallying to the standards)

The figures are 54mm/1:32 and a mix of modern plastics, old toys and metal figures by Irregular Miniatures.  The guns are actually adaptations from Irregular's 40mm range.  The flags and banners are a large size run specially printed for me by Fluttering Flags.

*******

The weather held out for us pretty well on Saturday, the icecream vans did good business and the tent didn't blow away.

 

I was surprised, given the status of King Richard, these days, at the 'given' shield in the kids armour boxes in the shop ...

 

... instantly recognisable to historians, of course, as Rhys Ap Thomas, the man who, legend had it, smashed the king's head in with a poleaxe.  My afternoon finished however with a random shot of the king bathed in a mystical light which only my camera picked up.

 

(Bosworth 2019: the Sunne in Splendour shining  on the son of York)

And that was not actually the Sun-day ... on Sunday I would be in Newark.

The Battlefields Trust

Society of Ancients Conference 2019

Society of Ancients BattleDay

13th to 15th July, County Durham

Based at Durham University, the 2018 BFT annual conference event featured a talk by Michael Jones on the Black Prince (see his new book) as well as a visit to the site of the battle of Otterburn in Redesdale ...

Another feature was the presentation of battlefield models ... in this case Mark Hornsby's stunning 6mm reconstruction of the ECW actions around Piercebridge. 

I had taken along the Northampton Battlefields stand and the Naseby model ...

But we ventured even further North to within sight of Scotland for the trip to Otterburn.

(Guide and Trustee Geoffrey Carter leads the BFT party to the battlefield)

The Battle of Otterburn was fought in 1388 between Henry Percy (the famous 'Harry Hotspur') and James Earl Douglas ... DBA enthusiasts will enjoy the fact that the Scottish camp played an important part in the battle (indeed the English raid on the Scottish baggage was the key that drew the belligerents in) ...

This is definitely worth reconstructing in miniature.

Follow the link above to the Battlefields Trust resource centre for more of what we know and can suppose ...

(the Battle of Otterburn: possible site of (part of) the Scottish camp ... )

The Conference was mostly 17th century in content, but on the way home a took a trip round the beautiful remains of Barnard Castle overlooking the River Tees ...

(Barnard Castle ... artist's reconstruction)

(overlooking the Tees: Barnard Castle - the Richard III window)

6th and 7th May, Central Milton Keynes

MKWS CAMPAIGN 2017

The show in the shopping centre.  Yes, and a great opportunity to reach out to ordinary folk and engage them with wargames and military history.

To do that we team up with the Northampton Battlefields Society and the Battlefields Trust ...

( The Battlefields Trust reprised Phil's wargamable display of the 1645 battle at Naseby)

 

(Northampton Battlefields Society added a participation game of Northampton 1460 by Graham Evans)

 

(medieval weapons and equipment from the Northampton collection)

 

(while the Society brought out the Kadesh game 'Call it Qids')

We were busy all day Saturday and both games got played a lot.  The displays attracted a lot of interest - feeling the weight of the swords, trying the helmets etc.

 

 

On Sunday we were joined by another of the Northampton team, Peter, the archer who answered questions on the longbows, demonstrated fletching etc.

 

Here are some more pictures of the games and exhibits

 

 

 

There was a nice mix of scales and resolutions ... blocks for Northampton, 6mm figures for Qids 

 

(Call it Qids: 6mm Hittites from Baccus)

 

(showing members of the public how wargames work - and letting them enjoy some history)

 

(Northampton 1460)

Elsewhere in the show:

 

This 15mm game was DBMM at the Teutoburgerwald on hex terrain.  Lots of trees.

 

 

And some nice scenics and figures in 10mm

 

But if you want bigger figures, Skirmish wargames had these 54mm ...

 

Next to our Wars of the Roses displays, Bedford Gladiators put on this 28mm Barnet

 

Nearly all lovely ancient and medieval games but I also like this 54mm colonial bash...

 

For more of the Naseby, see Phil's ECWBattles blog.

 

See NBS, SoA and the Battlefields Trust/Naseby at Partizan next weekend 

Call it Qids is available from the Society website.