Frost, fun, and victory at the Battle of Nantwich 2023!

After two years away, the Battle of Nantwich returned to the Cheshire town with a bang – and a big win for the Earl of Manchester’s!

We’re back home now after a fantastic time at the 50th anniversary Holly Holy Day and Battle of Nantwich reenactment in Cheshire. With temperatures dipping well below freezing overnight, it was a frosty and very chilly march into the town but things soon heated up when battle commenced.

And after a hard-fought day, we were delighted to be awarded the special Rosebowl trophy for ‘Best Regiment’!

As the only public event that always takes in mid-winter, it’s a wonderful opportunity to come together as a regiment outside our usual reenactment season and have a great battle with a great bash afterwards – and this year was no exception. Although it was easily the coldest it’s been for many years it didn’t stop us having a fantastic time, nor did it put off the hundreds and hundreds of people who lined the march route and the edges of the battlefield – so thank you for the warm welcome we received from local residents.

We also welcomed several new members to their first taste of Nantwich – Chris, Helen, Freya, Snowy, Thomas and Reilly – and their smiles say it all.

As always, Holly Holy Day (so-named due to the sprigs of holly that Parliamentarian soldiers marching to relieve the Royalist siege of the town in 1644 wore in their hat bands) begins with the massed march of the Sealed Knot down Welsh Row and into the market square. Nantwich is an ancient and historic town, with some beautiful timber-frame buildings and narrow streets, which makes it the perfect location for us to sing our regiment song – Thomas Ravenscroft’s Remember, O Thou Man – which you can listen to in the video by Julian France below. It can be such a stirring sound as the beat of the drums and our singing bounce off the walls…

We were yet again bowled over by how many people turned out to watch the march and battle, with the public six-deep at points along the route. After we’d marched into Nantwich’s packed Market Square and were waiting for the Rosebowl judging to begin, our regimental preacher regaled us with a sermon (which you can hear part of in this video by Andrew Helliwell) that sounded like it was referencing rather more current events than the 1640s!

Next came time for us to put all our training into practice, as the judges for the Rosebowl competition for ‘best regiment’ watched our troops go through their drill manoeuvres. We then marched down to the battlefield on Mill Island, which was less muddy than in previous years – but no less slippy, thanks to lots of ice and snow. The battle is always hard going, but we had some great opposition and lots of fun fights, as well as some delightful theatrics from our musket block…

You can get an idea of what happened in the battle – as well as a lot of shots of our redcoats – in this vdeo from El Mundo, one of Spain’s biggest newspapers!

 

Once battle was done, it came time for the announcement of who had won the Rosebowl trophy for ‘Best Regiment’. It’s always important for us that we support the competition – practising for it really boosts the regiment’s solidarity, gives us an excuse for our annual training weekend, and is a lot of fun to boot. So we were delighted when it was announced that we had won! A hearty huzzah to the other regiments taking part, we’re already looking forward to competing again with you next year!

A huge thank you to our hosts, the King’s Lifeguard of the Sealed Knot, who – along with a small army of volunteers – put on another brilliantly organised weekend that both celebrated fifty years of reenactments at Nantwich and commemorated several of their members who were so instrumental in reviving the occasion in 1973 and turning it into the annual event we know and love today.

So, once we’d walked back to our lodgings it was time to celebrate and, as is customary, we piled into The Oddfellows pub before filling the Rosebowl with chips and then a selection of delightful beverages. It was a great evening of friendship and laughter – and we can’t wait to do it all again!

So now we’re nursing our tired and bruised bodies – as well as a few well-deserved hangovers – but we’re itching to get back into kit and we have some great events planned.

If this account and the photos and videos have whetted your appetite and you fancy giving it a go it couldn’t be easier – for as little as £10 you could have a taster weekend and we’ll provide all the reenactment kit you need! Visit our website, drop us a line, and you could be marching onto a battlefield with us!

Until next year, Nantwich!