A Castle Under Siege 2009
A regularly scheduled reenactment at Caerphilly Castle.
View of the main part of the castle. The oddly coloured part seems to have just been cleaned.
This castle uses lakes instead of moats, which allows it to be the largest Norman castle in the World, and the largest castle in Wales. It is surrounded by the hills and town of Caerphilly, but separated from them by its massive retaining wall that holds back the lakes.
Remnants of the fallen tower.
Courtyard, with one part of the reenactment. This part shows the armour and weaponry of the Wars of the Roses.
Archers testing their accuracy by aiming for a variety of targets. Though barely visible as a blur just to the left of the head, there is an arrow that is about to hit it.
Camp site for the part of the reenactment from 100 years earlier.
Friend and colleague, Lissy, has traded her Viking costume for a Medieval costume, and is taking part.
The tent interiors vary from basic, to complete recreations such as this. Presumably, once someone has been volunteering for long enough, they build up their own collection, and perhaps even the luxury of a proper bed to sleep in, that doubles as a display.
View of the camp from above.
Meal time. The bread and cheese take too long to produce outdoors like this, so they are not really authentic (aka. purchased locally), but the rest of the meal is cooked on-site, following traditional recipes, with traditional ingredients and cooking methods. Oh, and it tastes awesome, but you probably have to know the cook in order to get some. Lucky me, huh?
Part of the popular display includes a demonstration of all of the castle's working siege engines.
Traction trebuchet.
Counterweight trebuchet.
Loading an early (and very loud) cannon.
Firing!
Dragging the accused to the stocks as part of a courtroom scene.
Another trial.
Failing to reach a verdict, it becomes trial by combat. While the weapons are blunt, and they do their best not to take each other's eyes out, the rest of the fighting is quite real, and they really do hit each other quite hard.
Flogging for a minor crime.
WARNING: this one's quite graphic. Depiction of the punnishment for murder (or just about anything else, in fact); hanging. Note the tourists walking up the drawbridge to the castle gates. What a scene to be faced with - they decided not to come in after all.
Marching to the arena.
Lords and their followers practising - this is done intentionally as a safe practice - they try not to injure each other too much - as they would only be practising, and not actually fighting to the death.
A strong blow from an axe. This may be practising, and they may be actors, but there is nothing fake about the force used when wielding that axe, and the impact on the shield.
Just in case you were under the mistaken impression that it was fake. These guys really do go all out, for fun.
Taking a heavy blow from a mace.
Protecting the knees from the slash of a sword.
And failing to protect them. The armour was visibly dented by this one.
Melee, after one lord fails to honour the rules and attempts to claim a false victory.
The final blows, before the lord admits defeat.
Time to go back for the evening meal; stew, with some of the spit-roasted beef.
A little out of place in the gift shop.
View of the main part of the castle. The oddly coloured part seems to have just been cleaned.
This castle uses lakes instead of moats, which allows it to be the largest Norman castle in the World, and the largest castle in Wales. It is surrounded by the hills and town of Caerphilly, but separated from them by its massive retaining wall that holds back the lakes.
Remnants of the fallen tower.
Courtyard, with one part of the reenactment. This part shows the armour and weaponry of the Wars of the Roses.
Archers testing their accuracy by aiming for a variety of targets. Though barely visible as a blur just to the left of the head, there is an arrow that is about to hit it.
Camp site for the part of the reenactment from 100 years earlier.
Friend and colleague, Lissy, has traded her Viking costume for a Medieval costume, and is taking part.
The tent interiors vary from basic, to complete recreations such as this. Presumably, once someone has been volunteering for long enough, they build up their own collection, and perhaps even the luxury of a proper bed to sleep in, that doubles as a display.
View of the camp from above.
Meal time. The bread and cheese take too long to produce outdoors like this, so they are not really authentic (aka. purchased locally), but the rest of the meal is cooked on-site, following traditional recipes, with traditional ingredients and cooking methods. Oh, and it tastes awesome, but you probably have to know the cook in order to get some. Lucky me, huh?
Part of the popular display includes a demonstration of all of the castle's working siege engines.
Traction trebuchet.
Counterweight trebuchet.
Loading an early (and very loud) cannon.
Firing!
Dragging the accused to the stocks as part of a courtroom scene.
Another trial.
Failing to reach a verdict, it becomes trial by combat. While the weapons are blunt, and they do their best not to take each other's eyes out, the rest of the fighting is quite real, and they really do hit each other quite hard.
Flogging for a minor crime.
WARNING: this one's quite graphic. Depiction of the punnishment for murder (or just about anything else, in fact); hanging. Note the tourists walking up the drawbridge to the castle gates. What a scene to be faced with - they decided not to come in after all.
Marching to the arena.
Lords and their followers practising - this is done intentionally as a safe practice - they try not to injure each other too much - as they would only be practising, and not actually fighting to the death.
A strong blow from an axe. This may be practising, and they may be actors, but there is nothing fake about the force used when wielding that axe, and the impact on the shield.
Just in case you were under the mistaken impression that it was fake. These guys really do go all out, for fun.
Taking a heavy blow from a mace.
Protecting the knees from the slash of a sword.
And failing to protect them. The armour was visibly dented by this one.
Melee, after one lord fails to honour the rules and attempts to claim a false victory.
The final blows, before the lord admits defeat.
Time to go back for the evening meal; stew, with some of the spit-roasted beef.
A little out of place in the gift shop.