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Living History

At its best, living history can bring the past alive in a way no other form can. You can touch, smell, and feel the past, and many of the best living historians are now doing very important work in furthering our understanding our ancestors. In fact, there’s even a recognised term for this: experimental archaeology.

Living History Encampments

Friday 29th June – Sunday 1st July 2018 | Free with event or entrance ticket

Spread over acres of the Festival site, the encampments provide so much for all the family to see and do – from archery to sword school, to First World War training camps and seeing Word War II artillery in action. There will be Medieval knights, Vikings and Anglo-Saxons, Celts and Romans, as well as a large Napoleonic encampment with infantry, artillery and even mounted cavalry. All our living historians will be putting on a stunning array of demonstrations and displays – they are contagiously passionate and real experts in their fields.

Buy Entrance or Talk Tickets

As ever, we will have a large number of historic vehicles on show, and this year, we will also have a static Spitfire and Hurricane on display all week.

  • Celtic Wheat Grinding
  • Anglo-Saxon Bread Making
  • Anglo-Saxon Settlement – Traditional Crafts
  • Life in the Roman Legions
  • Archery Demonstrations
  • Norman Siege Weapons & Warfare
  • Crusades – Trade Routes & Travel
  • Edward III, the Great Plantagenet King – His Life & Times
  • English Civil War – Guns, Black Powder & Cannon Repair
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  • Napoleonic infantry and cavalry
  • Battle of Waterloo Diorama with the BBC’s Peter Ginn and Mark Evans
  • First World War Trench
  • First World War Horse-drawn Ambulance & Vehicles
  • French Army 1914-1940
  • Second World War Weapons & Uniforms
  • Children’s Activity Tent
  • The History Tellers

The Trench Experience and Sword School

In this 100th anniversary year of Vimy Ridge, Arras and Passchendaele, we will be putting on another major immersive First World War experience. There will be a training camp at which ‘recruits’ will be shown and ask to take part in a number of drills similar to those practiced at camps near here in south-west Wiltshire.

We will also have a new trench experience, at which people can enter as a fly-on-the-wall spectator as our living historians enact scenarios from 1917. To book, please see programme.

Throughout the week will be a number of period vehicles on display and the chance to ride on a First World War horse-drawn ambulance.

Sword School will be returning (to book, please see programme), along with Have-a-Go-Archery, numerous stalls, and demonstrations – there will always be much to see and do. We can’t wait!

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View programme for entrance tickets and bookings