Show report: Newport Ship Open Day – October 2016

Cardiff Castle Garrison were thrilled to return to the Newport Ship for another Open Day. The charity are continuing to preserve the 15th Century timbers of the ship found in the River Usk in 2002, and hope to finish this process over the next year. They then plan to display the ship in a purpose-built museum.

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Show report: Joust! at Cardiff Castle – 17-19th June

We had a terrific time again at one of our favourites events – Joust! at Cardiff Castle.

The Garrison provided a full living history camp, with displays of fourteenth-century crafts, cookery and weapons and armour.

Check out our gallery for some lovely shots of our weekend (thanks so much Andrew Forster!).

Group members around the camp fire

Fourteenth-century weapons and armour display

Garrison camp with member carrying authentic crossbow

Group members practicing fourteenth-century crafts, including spinning, fingerloop braiding (an authentic method of making cord), embroidery and dressmaking

Craft display table featuring various fourteenth-century craft items, including fingerloop braiding, spinning, embroidery and tablet weaving

More complex fingerloop braids could be constructed with multiple people. Here, three group members are constructing a broad braid.

A Bayeux stitch embroidery copied from the Bayeux tapestry, using the same embroidery technique

Medieval toys: a horse and two hedgehogs. Linen and wool yarn were used to construct the horse and leather and rabbit fur for the hedgehogs.

Lambs’ hearts and brains. ‘Offal’. These cheaper cuts of meat were not wasted during the medieval period, as can be common today, and certainly made a lovely stew. A blog post on this recipe will follow soon.

A member playing a Symphonie: an authentic ancestor of the hurdy-gurdy. The instrument is played by turning the handle, which spins a wheel against strings inside the instrument box

A symphonie in an 11th century manuscript image (Symphonia de Cantiga 160, Cantigas de Sta. María de Alfonso X El Sabio, Códice de El Escorial. [1221-1284] Credit to G.Rosa – Imagén cedida por Retruso de Cela for image)

Cardiff Castle Norman keep, a 12th century addition to the castle

Show Report: Llantrisant Castle – 3rd & 4th May

 

Jolly Good Show All Round

Llantrisant Castle weekend show of the 3rd and 4th of May went really well. Cardiff Castle Garrison, along with West Wales re-enactment group, the Templars, set up camp in the grounds of the ruined Llantrisant Castle for the weekend.

This was a brand-new location for us, and we were very pleased that everything went very well. We gave demonstrations of blacksmithing, crafts, cookery, and archery practice, with have-a-go archery available for the public to try. The Templars also gave combat displays, and everything was very well-received by the public.

We are also extremely happy to say that we have been invited back to Llantrisant for the same show next year. Please enjoy the gallery of pictures below, and we hope to see everyone at our next event, the Newport Ship Open Day, on the 24th May.

A display of items made by Gor, our blacksmith, along with various weapons common in the fourteenth century.

A blacksmithing display

Cooking displays were run by Sarah and Smudge over the weekend, with rabbit stew and spitroasted pork among the recipes produced.

Members of the public around the cook’s area

We offered have-a-go archery practice to the public throughout the weekend, which proved very popular.

Several of our members offered craft displays over the weekend. Here, Jayne and Alice are spinning with distaffs, a craft most women of the period would have spent a large proportion of their time on.

Jayne is displaying dressmaking, and working on a hand-sewn apron.

A Garrison lady in a wimple and veil with a decorative frill added to the veil; this is a higher class method of veiling as the frill would have needed more care than simpler veils.

The Raven Tower is almost all that remains of a once-proud castle.

Two veiled ladies with sunhats over the top of their veils.

The camp set up around Llantrisant