Upcoming Events

You can find details of all events we currently plan to be attending below. We hope you can make it along to see us in action soon! Our current list of events during 2010 are:

28^th to 30^th August 2010 - Warning Orders: Muncaster Castle

Scenario

It is August 1460 and England is in the midst of a civil war between the supporters of King Henry VI (known as Lancastrians because Henry is also Duke of Lancaster) and those of his rival the Duke of York. The previous year the Yorkists had fled the country after their defeat at Ludford Bridge, but in June 1460 they returned to England to defeat the King’s army at Northampton in July and to take the King prisoner. Queen Margaret, and the Duke of Somerset, the King’s Chief Minister then went to the North where their support was strongest and summoned a great army to join with them at Pontefract. They appointed Lord John Clifford, known as ‘The Butcher’ as one of their commanders. Lord John Clifford is Sheriff of Westmorland with castles at Appleby, Brough, Brougham and Pendragon; and is also Lord of Craven with a castle at Skipton. He has a strong personal reason to take up arms against the Yorkists - as they killed his father at St. Albans five years previously and he has sworn revenge. One of his allies is Sir John Pennington of Muncaster Castle.

We therefore find a group of soldiers camped temporarily at Muncaster on their way from their usual posting in Carlisle on the Scottish border to join with the Lancastrian army at Pontefract. They are travelling through West Cumberland because they have also been instructed to ‘array’ (enlist) any able bodied person who they find in the name of the King. These are dangerous times so some civilians have chosen to travel with them for protection.

Image of Muncaster Castle

Programme

Saturday 23^rd to Monday 25^th May 2010 - Living History at Skipton Castle, Skipton, North Yorkshire

Scenario

It is May 1415. The King of England is King Henry V – crowned in 1413, aged 28 and determined to pursue his claim to the throne of France – he is busy raising money and men in Southampton for an invasion of Normandy.

The Lord of Skipton Castle - the 26 year old Lord John Clifford - has been ordered to array the men of Craven and Westmorland to join the King at Southampton. Skipton Castle is therefore busy as the mustering point for this array.

King James I of Scotland is an English prisoner, but it is known that the French are attempting to persuade the Duke of Albany, Regent of Scotland in the absence of the King, to attack the North of England. There is therefore a need to prepare the defences of the North as well as to prepare for the invasion of France.

There is also discontent in England. In 1399, King Richard II was deposed by King Henry V’s father and there are still those who believe that King Henry V is a usurper. A plot is being hatched by the Earl of Cambridge to kill King Henry and replace him as King by Edmund Mortimer, the Earl of March. Will Lord John Clifford be tempted to join the plot?

Visitors to Skipton Castle will see soldiers being mustered for France, preparations being made for defence against the Scots, speculation about the possible course of the war and the possibility of revolt. All this will happen against the backdrop of everyday life continuing: craftsmen at their work, cooks preparing food, people at work and leisure and soldiers practising with their weaponry.

Programme