Living history with friends new and old at Marston Moor

Bringing the biggest battle on English soil to life with friends new and old — we had a fantastic time at the muster at Marston Moor!

Marston Moor in 1644 saw five separate armies meeting on moorland outside of York — the Royalist armies of Prince Rupert of the Rhine and the Marquess of Newcastle against the Parliamentarian armies of Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Manchester, and the Scottish Covenanter army of Lord Leven. Despite the Royalists having 10,000 fewer troops than the Parliamentarians, the outcome was by no means a foregone conclusion but after just a couple of hours on 2 July Rupert’s army was effectively destroyed, Newcastle fled, York fell, and the North was lost for the King.

While the march to the tall stone memorial at Marston Moor has taken place every year, the Sealed Knot now stages a ‘living history’ encampment along with displays and skirmishing — all right next to the original battlefield. Hosted by the Marquess of Newcastle’s Regiment of Foote, the weekend was a great opportunity for a few members of Manchester’s to try lending their hand at their ‘living history’ portrayals, paying their respects at the memorial to the troops who fought at Marston Moor, and helping add a dash of colour to the arena events and skirmishes.

On the Sunday, the Manchester’s regimental flag was one of those fluttering in the breeze during a short service at the memorial, representing the Eastern Association army that fought on that day alongside the Scots and other Parliamentarians.

Back on the ‘living history’ camp, our commanding officer, Digits, was trying out his new portrayal of a manufacturer and supplier of black powder, as well as wrestling with a little period ‘rat trap’! Our goodwife Helen practiced feeding the masses at our upcoming Foxdenton event by keeping us all eating, as well as demonstrating butter-making with her butter churn and grinding flour on her small traditional quern stone.

Rhodri, impressing the visitors and Knotters alike with his new mobile forge, made some major headway with a small frying pan and then with a little help from Alfie from Colonel John Pickering Regiment of Foote, started to work on a small belt knife. Hopefully we can also use the embers from his forge to make baked potatoes at future events.

This was a great weekend for new members of the regiment…

Tom and Kelly have only recently joined Manchester’s but have thrown themselves into their living history display, having a great spread of leather as they practiced their leatherworking skills, with Tom working on a sausage bag and Kelly on her Wiener bag!

And our latest new recruits, Heidi and David, took to the field carrying standards and pike with our musket officer Graham teaching the Royalists a few new manoeuvres … let’s hope that doesn’t come back to bite us! 😉

But it wasn’t just a weekend of new friends — catching up with old friends is something we are well used to at any event, but it was particularly nice to spend a little time with Ianto, a long time friend and valued Manchester’s musketeer that we hadn’t seen since lockdown, who there as a temporary member with Sir Thomas Glemham’s Regiment of Foote.

Our thanks to Newcastle’s for a nice little event and their hospitality. We’ll see them at our forthcoming event at Foxdenton Hall on 18-19 July where we hope to return the compliment!

Photos by Levitt Parkes

There’s still time to join us in 2026 and experience weekends like this for yourself — you could be taking part for as little as £10, with your kit provided! Message us now and you could: