When: 12am-4pm, Sunday 25 & Monday 26 September Where: Scampston Hall, Scampston, North Yorkshire YO17 8NG This August Bank Holiday the Sealed Knot are returning to Scampston Hall, following our highly popular event in 2017. This stunning estate will again echo to the sounds of an English Civil War battle, as we re-create the Battle…
Marching to Marston Moor Yesterday we marched the two and a half miles from Long Marston to Tockwith, a route that runs from one side of the battlefield of Marston Moor to the other. Half way we stopped at the battle memorial obelisk for a short service to commemorate the dead of this pivotal moment…
Commemorating the Battle of Marston Moor, 375 years on On 2 July 1644, on a gently sloping moor just outside of the city of York, five armies met in what was to become a watershed moment in the English Civil War. Marston Moor would prove to be the biggest battle of the civil wars that…
Battling the Royalists AND the heat at Cropredy Bridge! It was a blistering weekend in more ways than one – the temperature soared as we engaged in battle at The Battle of Cropredy Bridge! It was well over 35°C on the battlefield as we reenacted the 1644 battle on almost the exact same spot. But…
Watch Britain’s Most Historic Towns this Saturday! A few months ago, members of the Sealed Knot gathered at a location outside of Oxford to help Professor Alice Roberts uncover the Civil War history of King Charles’ wartime capital – and the footage will be aired this Saturday! On Saturday 8th June, the Channel 4 series…
Sieging and besieged: who were the soldiers who fought to control Pontefract Castle? This weekend Pontefract Castle will once again echo with the sound of cannons and muskets as we take it back to the English Civil War for a fascinating weekend of reenactment – all free for visitors! On 1st and 2nd June, the castle…
Open the Siege of Pontefract Castle app! On Saturday and Sunday 1-2 June we will be bringing the sights and sounds of battle to Pontefract Castle – 375 years since it was first besieged in the English Civil War. If you’re coming to visit our encampment in this once-great fortress, make sure you open up the…
Siege warfare in the English Civil Wars “If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.” – Sun Tzu Contrary to popular notions of set piece clashes filled with dashing cavalry charges and tens of thousands of soldiers, sieges were “every bit as important as battle in the Civil Wars … holding…
Besieged: The Battle For Pontefract Castle 1644-5 The first great chronicler of the English Civil War, The Earl of Clarendon, described the location of Pontefract Castle in Yorkshire as “very strong, no part whereof was commanded by any other ground” and said “the house was very large, with all offices suitable to a Princely seat,…
‘The Key to the North’: Pontefract Castle’s place in the English Civil War “[Pontefract Castle is] well watered; situated on rock in every part of it; and therefore difficult to mine. The walls are very thick and high, with strong towers; and if battered, very difficult to access, by reason of the depth and…