Over the late May bank holiday weekend Buckingham's Retinue were at Tattershall castle, a beautiful 15th century brick castle in the heart of Lincolnshire and home of Lord Ralph Cromwell, an important politician in the government of King Henry VI.
The castle
Despite somewhat inclement weather, the castle received good numbers of visitors, with our living history displays being busy throughout the day and the timetabled talks proving popular.
The view of the camp from the castle roof.
Castle volunteer photographer Mike Pounder has kindly taken some wonderful photos of the site and the group, available on his website.
Your humble scribe taking a well earned snooze.
Link to Saturday photos:Buckingham's Retinue (mikepounder.com)
Link to Sunday photos: Buckingham's Retinue-260524 (mikepounder.com)
Due to the cancellation of the Barnet Mediaeval Festival, our next event will now be the Chalke Valley History Festival, in Broad Chalke, Wiltshire on the weekend of 29th and 30th June. Please see the CVHF website for details and tickets: Home - Chalke History Festival (chalkefestival.com)
It is spring at last (allegedly!) and that means it's time for the Buckingham's Retinue annual Make and Mend weekend! An important part of the behind the scenes work that ensures our events can go ahead.
Just some of the kit to be checked and maintained
Group members converged on Mark’s house to go through all of the group kit and make sure everything is still in good condition after the wet season last year and to carry out general maintenance.
The garage shelves before
New shalfs for bills
Repairing bags
Clothing and accessories being repaired
The garage shelves after
Of particular note this year is the construction of a new set of shelves to keep the garage organised and a new protective sleeve for Gwynifer, our cannon.
Eagle eyed fans of the group will have noticed our Events 2024 page has been updated, however we will be making a separate announcement on this once a few final details have been ironed out.
On the 1st and 2nd July Buckinghams Retinue made the long journey to the Chalke Valley History Festival to take part in one of the largest celebrations of history in the UK.
The festival is held every year in the beautiful Chalke Valley on the edge of Salisbury and the Cranborne Chase AOONB and hosts numerous historians, writers and craftspeople throughout the week, giving talks and demonstrations on a huge range of historical subjects.
Gilded pork being cooked on the spit and then sliced
Watching the jousting
Marchpane subtleties being made
Mark explaining the role of the barber surgeon
Vic and Darren showing the use of the portable bread oven
Rachel discussing food and social status
Salted beef, before and after cooking.
Sewing and armour, a winning combination
Buckinghams Retinue provided a range of living history displays in our camp, including board games, medicine and arms and armour but the big focus was on historical cooking. Rachel went above and beyond to provide a huge range of historical foods, with a particular focus on what an army on the march would have carried and eaten, to fit in with the wider theme of this section of the festival (the end of the Hundred Years War).
Just a part of the fantastic food and cooking display
Group members will be attending the Tewkesbury Medieval Festival on the 8th-9th July but our next full event will be at Skipton Castle, North Yorkshire 15th-16th July for the 15th Century Castle Life event. Please see the Skipton Castle Website for details.
