Lulworth Castle Medieval Festival

Festival Location: Lulworth, England

Festival Type(s): Medieval Fairs, Historical Festivals

Lulworth Castle Medieval Festival

By: © Gillian McNern 2009

Having become hooked on Medieval Festivals by visiting the Bedfordshire Medieval Festival I arranged my free time last year to go to several such events around the country, some run by the same organisation as at Twinwood Airfield, and some others as well. Sadly, the Bedfordshire Medieval Fayre co-incided with really hot weather and the (football) World Cup Quarter Finals which still featured the lack lustre England team, and so the anticipated crowds stayed at home with barbecues and the TV, which was a shame as the event was brilliant. They had moved to a different part of the Airfield, which made for a better and more co-herent layout, with excellent Living History encampments arranged so you could walk between them and chat to the re-enactors, who were engaged in a variety of pastimes such as weaving and cooking. However, it was difficult to ignore the programme of events happening in the Arena, and there was also the temptation of browsing the Medieval Market! I'm really quite saddened to have to tell you that this event will not be staged again, the public attendance being so poor that the organisers have decided they need to move to a venue which might attract more people.

The good news is that they are planning to stage a Medieval Festival at Bodelwyddan Castle, in North Wales. This is a stunning location, and the Castle will make a wonderful and appropriate backdrop. This new Festival will take place Saturday and Sunday August 11th and 12th 2007. Obviously, as I'm writing this in February 2007 I can't describe it for you, but I have visited the Castle, which is an outpost of the National Portrait Gallery, and it is a lovely place, with views across the valley to Rhuddlan Castle, one of the network of huge castles built by Edward 1st to crush the Welsh opposition to English rule.

What I can describe for you is the Lulworth Castle Medieval Festival which I went to in September last year - this had a lot of similarities to the Bodelwyddan Castle Medieval Festival, because of the setting in front of a fantasy castle - both Lulworth Castle and Bodelwyddan Castle are "fake" in that they were built long after castles had any military significance. Lulworth Castle is a gem though, with round towers at each corner, every child's picturebook vision, and the Festival was arranged to take full advantage of this with the Arena right in front of the main entrance. I had rented a holiday cottage in the village for the weekend, and arrived on the Friday afternoon. It was a lovely evening, and being cheeky, I wandered into the Castle and found that a superb real ale Bar had been set up in the Stables Courtyard, and a local folk band were playing to an appreciative audience of re-enactors and estate staff. I counted the ales on offer - 24 different beers, plus a local farmhouse cider and a lager!

The next morning things didn't look so good - the wind had risen to Gale Force 6 and there was horizontal rain. I put on my wellies and a raincoat - there was no point in trying to hold an umbrella up - and went back to the Castle. It was all very wet, and traders and re-enactors were desperately trying to keep their tents from blowing away, hammering in extra tent pegs and ropes. For safety reasons all of the scheduled demonstrations had been postponed or cancelled, it simply would not have been safe to try to proceed withthem on the soaking wet and slippery grass. The ground here is very chalky, and the paths and roads had become like rivers of milk! The organiser and his crew were fighting with the elements to erect a large white tent, helped by some people with more tattoos than clothes - these turned out to be the top German Medieval Band, Schelmish, who needed the shelter of this large tent to protect their instruments from the rain and so be able to play. This looked likely to be the only entertainment that was likely to be on offer until the weather changed, but even that looked precarious, as the wind whipped and tore at the tent, threatening to lift it from the ground. Ropes were being thrown over the top of the tent and tied to metal fencing pins in front and behind to try and make it more secure, and more ropes were being tied from strut to strut inside the tent to try and give it more strength to stand up to the battering it was taking. At one end, which was getting the brunt of the gale, the plastic side sheeting was almost like the side of a huge football, and the team had to tie yet more rope from side to side and top to bottom of this part of the frame to stop the panel tearing away under the strain.

Eventually there was nothing more that could be done to tie down or strengthen the tent, and the Germans shook the water from themselves as best they could. Then they brought their minibus up as close as they could to the tent - you could forgive the modern intrusion in the circumstances - and unloaded their instruments, which included the biggest drum I have ever seen, and a wild variety of bagpipes. Within just a few minutes they were ready to play, and to a huge cheer from the small crowd of wet re-enactors and a few brave members of the public, they launched into an amazing set. I have since found their website, at http://www.schelmish.de/ so you can check them out online. I bought a CD entitled "Igni Gena" and a DVD of theirs which has tracks showing them on tour in Germany. It is difficult to describe their music - sort of Folk, sort of Rock, sort of Punk, great sort of tribal drumming underpinning it. "Dextro", their lead singer spent manyyears on the Folk Music circuit in Ireland, and speaks good English but with an Irish accent, which is not what you expect from a German! I thought it was just great that they played under such difficult circumstances, and certainly the people who were there appreciated it.

I wandered around the site, but the living history encampments were all rather soggy and trying to keep their tents from blowing away. Several of the traders packed up and left, which was a shame, but they had their stock and their tents to protect, and the conditions were really unpleasant. And with so few people likely to come to the Festival in weather like that, it was impossible to blame them for running for home.

The jousters from Destrier kept checking on the state of the Arena, but I overheard the organiser telling them not to even consider trying to stage the jousting tournament unless they were 120% convinced it was safe for them to do so. "I'm not prepared to risk anyone or any horse getting hurt, and that's final! The public will just have to understand - not that there's many of them to apologise to." In fact, although the rain had eased off, the wind was so strong that the jousters could not hold their lances properly in it - I watched them trying, and it just could not be done.

Around lunchtime the Falconer, Ray Alliker of Ye Old Redtail Falconry Display, thought it was dry enough to fly his birds, and this was dulty announce over the PA system, only for another problem to hamper things - the weather conditions were apparently affecting the hands free radio mike which Ray normally uses, so he had to try and manage with one held in his hand - very tricky for a falconer, who normally has two hands in use for the birds, one sitting on his wrist a lot of the time, and the other to feed them rewards or throw a lure for them to swoop upon. Given the circumstances Ray coped brilliantly, one of the best displays of falconry I have seen. I don't know how he does it, but his birds did exactly as he told them to do, there was no disapearing speck in the sky and no sulking in a tree and not coming back. The birds, which included a massive Eagle Owl, were "upfront and personal", to the delight of the children in the audience, many of whom got to be involved.

In the afternoon the Men at Arms from the de Cobham Household of the Medieval Siege Society were able to demonstrate their skill at arms, as this is done with wooden weapons and in soft kit, and they could do this safely even on the still soggy grass. You could see their costumes getting darker and darker from the wet grass as they were thrown to the ground or rolled to avoid a weapon. Considering that many of them were camped on site in authentic tents, you had to wonder how they were going to get those soaked clothes dry! By contrast, it was not possible for the fully armoured contestants from the Full Contact Sword Fighting Tourney to fight, as this would not have been safe on the slippery wet grass.

Colin Herriot from the Star Gun Company had managed to keep his powder dry, though, and so the demonstration of medieval artillery was loud and impressive! This was followed by a well scripted and well acted skirmish between the "good" party of the local landowner and a bunch of rough outlaws and mercenaries who had moved onto his estates. The Paladins of Chivalry provided the nobility, the Medieval Siege Society provide the soldiery, and the Hussites from God's Company of Tabor played the villains to perfection. They seemed to thoroughly enjoy being the baddies - maybe it's the same as the films, it's more fun being the villain!

All in all, it was a very brave effort by all of those involved to put on the best show that they could in terrible circumstances, and a reminder that with the best will in the world, you cannot do anything about the weather!

I have already booked time off to go to the Bodelwyddan Medieval Festival, and I sincerely hope that they have much nicer weather!

by Gillian McNern

Lulworth Castle Medieval Festival Dates and Location

The Lulworth Castle Medieval Festival is held annually during September in the the English county of Dorset. For more information take a look at the Lulworth Castle Medieval Festival website.