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.
Over the Bank Holiday weekend we returned to the Avoncroft Museum of Historical Buildings to take part in their Mediaeval Life event.
Our camp next to the perry mill and barns
Throughout the day we provided a series of very well attended talks on clothing, medicine, food, fiber arts and archery/firepower.
Cooking on the fire inside the medieval house
Victoria and Mark talking medieval medicine
Fran, Rachel and Jenni delivering a talk about wool and fiber arts
The cannon in the archery and firepower display.
Our next and final event of the year will be at the Bromwich Hall Manor House Museum, West Bromwich on 16th & 17th September. See the Manor House Museum website for further information: Bromwich Hall - West Bromwich Manor House Museum | Bromwich Hall - The Manor House Museum | Sandwell Council.
