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mediaeval Weaponry #84

...d lots of mediaeval weapons on display along with the armour.  Later, we ran mediaeval Banquets and the halberds were used by the Halberdier (a man dressed as a knight) as he stood on guard at the banquet doors before letting the guests enter the Banqueting Hall.  He would bang the halberd on the floor very loudly to attract their attention before announcing that the banquet was about to commence! The Halberdier announces the King   The principal missile weapon of the Middle Ages was the bow.  It took two main forms: the simple bow and the crossbow.  The simple bow was about five feet long and fired arrows with heads of steel.  Later these heads wer...

mediaeval Mayhem!

...into our mediaeval dresses; Myra (the fire-eaters wife) and myself were doing the cloakroom first before helping serve drinks when the banquet started.  We also shared the tips, which were usually quite good!  A lot of the guests arrived in coaches as they often came for a night out with their work colleagues.  They would then wait in the Long Gallery and have a drink at the bar and once they had all arrived Tony, the Halberdier would open the double doors to the Banqueting Hall, bang his halberd on the floor three times and announce that the hall was ready for the guests to be seated. (A halberd is a long wooden pole with a spear on the end).   It all so...

Hysterical Productions #15

...sn't very mediaeval!   The next day, when cleaning up, we would find all sorts of things which people had left behind: scarves, perfume, money, cigarettes and even a set of false teeth left on the mantelpiece! I had found a little hidey hole in the wooden panelling in the Long Gallery; a small 6” square door which pushed open when pressed in the right place and I would keep things in there which I found – especially the cigarettes! mediaeval maracas!   In the middle of all this busyness my dad still found time to go to arms and armour exhibitions, one in particular in Birmingham around the time of the IRA bombings, and also the Racing Car Show at L...

Ventures New! #10

...ard about mediaeval banquets being run at a place called Coombe Abbey near Coventry and went along one night to see what it was all about. It was a banquet serving four or five courses with mediaeval entertainment while you ate. The whole thing was overseen by a King and his court. Well they seemed so struck on this that they decided to have a go themselves. In the seventies mediaeval banquets were becoming the ‘in thing’ so they started planning how they would do this. It was decided that they would run them during the winter months and open the house to the public from Easter to the August Bank Holiday.   The King with members of the cast   Aroun...

Eat, Drink & Be Merry #11

...ard about mediaeval banquets being run at a place called Coombe Abbey near Coventry and went along one night to see what it was all about. It was a banquet serving four or five courses with mediaeval entertainment while you ate. The whole thing was overseen by a King and his court. Well they seemed so struck on this that they decided to have a go themselves. In the seventies mediaeval banquets were becoming the ‘in thing’ so they started planning how they would do this. It was decided that they would run them during the winter months and open the house to the public from Easter to the August Bank Holiday. Around this time J C Bamford, who had a factory in n...

mediaeval Mayhem! #13

...into our mediaeval dresses; Myra (the fire-eaters wife) and myself were doing the cloakroom first before helping serve drinks when the banquet started. We also shared the tips, which were usually quite good! Guests arriving at the banquet, some dressed up!   A lot of the guests arrived in coaches as they often came for a night out with their work colleagues. They would then wait in the Long Gallery and have a drink at the bar and once they had all arrived Tony, the Halberdier would open the double doors to the Banqueting Hall, bang his halberd on the floor three times and announce that the hall was ready for the guests to be seated. (A halberd is a long...