Living History at Lulworth

Pic by Chris Downer

Yesterday we went off to see our friends at the Living History event at Lulworth Castle. They were fortunate to have comfy seats in a window alcove on the ground floor of the castle close to the stairs going down to the kitchens and up to the top of one of the towers.

The castle is just four walls and a roof with a tower at each corner. It was most likely built as a hunting lodge, certainly not as a defensive structure. First built early in the 1600s, most of the changes in the intervening centuries were stripped from the interior by a fire that took hold in 1929. Much restoration work has been done since then but the walls inside have been left as the original stonework. Yesterday it was filled with Living History personnel who brought along many fascinating 17th century objects and the genteel crafts that would have been practised by the aristocracy of the time and their servants.

Outside was a tented village where we could see the rougher occupations practised by the commoners of the time. A battle demo was scheduled for 4 pm, but we missed that. The weather was showery, blustery and very cold. After we'd seen everything available, we left them to it and headed back to await our friends' return in the comfort of home.

Living History at My House

My weekend guests are members of a Living History English civil war regiment. In fact, David, who has been involved over many years, is the regiment’s Colonel-in-Chief. He has been twice widowed and his third wife, Betty, has been my friend since I was in my first, rather unhappy, marriage, when my children were small.

After breakfast this morning they went off in all their 17th century finery to a regimental wedding at the Guildhall in Poole. Tomorrow they are attending a Living History event at Lulworth Castle, which is not far from here. They very kindly agreed to me posting the photos of them posing for me in my garden this morning.