Battling it out yet again in Civil War re-enactment

Mar 31 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal

CANON and musket fire rang out over a sleepy Northumberland market town yesterday as historic battlefield scenes were vividly brought back to life as part of an annual cultural festival.

There was a whiff of gunpowder in the air at Morpeth as costumed soldiers re-enacted an English Civil War skirmish from 1643 to bring the curtain down on the town’s 41st Northumbrian Gathering.

Musketeers, pikemen, drummers and foot soldiers entertained a large crowd in Carlisle Park with a noisy and colourful revival of a 17th century battle between rival parliamentary and royalist forces.

It was staged by members of the York-based Sir Thomas Glemham’s Regiment of Foote, part of the Sealed Knot society which re-enacts Civil War battles all over the country.

Watching youngsters and their parents were given demonstrations of centuries-old weaponry and explanations of battlefield tactics via a running commentary, before proceedings were brought to a close by a mock skirmish between the rival armies.

The Sealed Knot, which was set up 40 years ago, has separate parliamentary and royalist Armies, both split into a number of different regiments in various parts of the country. Sir Thomas Glemham’s regiment staged two battle re-enactments over the weekend, which proved highlights of the three-day Gathering which started on Friday.

Members of the Sealed Knot first entertained visitors to the event four years ago when they re-enacted the 1644 siege of Morpeth Castle, when the fortress was all but destroyed as royalist forces attacked 500 Scottish parliamentarians garrisoned inside.

The Northumbrian Gathering is held annually to keep alive and celebrate the region’s music, dance, dialect, crafts and heritage.

This year it had a Crossing Borders theme and also featured musical events marking the launch of the town’s year-long celebrations of the 500th birthday of Morpeth’s own William Turner, known as the father of English botany.

Apart from the battle re-enactments, highlights of the weekend included a major folk concert on Friday evening, a costumed pageant and procession through the town on Saturday and numerous workshops, exhibitions and competitions.

Yesterday’s final day also featured performance in music, dance and drama by students from King Edward VI School on the life of William Turner, a talk on Turner by Marie Addyman and a grand concert by the York Waits in full Tudor costume, featuring their new tune A Fanfare for William Turner.