Civil war 1644 – recreating history
Great Chalfield Manor
Near Melksham there is a lovely manor house
built in the 1460s by Thomas Tropnell. The Arts and Crafts gardens are worth visiting in their own right, as is the manor itself but on Saturday 5th & Sunday 6thAUGUST 2017 from 10am there is an
ENGLISH CIVIL WAR RE-ENACTMENT EVENT
Admission £5 for Adults, 16 years and under go free.
Writers re-imagine historic events but here – where the garrison was billeted for the two years of the Civil War – the events will be re-created.
Re-enactment The Marquess of Winchester’s Regiment of the English Civil War Society will re-enact the two-day Royalist occupation of the manor house in 1644. The Regiment and accompanying civilians will march in at the start of each day and guards will be posted to keep watch. The regiment will drill and fire muskets and cannon during the day.
In tents in the garden civilians will show and tell you how people lived in the seventeenth century (Living History).
A clerk will be set up in the Great Hall to replicate the writing of the accounts of September 1644. The Chaplain and officers will also recreate various activities in the adjoining parish church and around the manor.
During the afternoon a small Parliamentarian patrol will be driven off in a sharp skirmish in the Orchard to the rear of the manor. Any prisoners taken will be tried and then marched off under escort.
“It’s actually bringing history to life; you can really smell gun powder, hear the noise, and for children it gives them a sense of actually being there and makes history more interesting” (visitor comment 2016)
Admission charges for adults including National Trust members at this event contribute to maintenance and development of the Arts & Crafts gardens at Great Chalfield. Evensong will be in All Saints’ Parish Church at 6:00 pm on 6 August.
GREAT CHALFIELD MANOR SN12 8NH
For further details see: www.marquisofwinchesters.co.uk and www.greatchalfield.co.uk