There's been a Tremendous Banging on the Park

So, I've had a livelier day today, which started with a morning visit to Sconce Park and a cup of tea while the various re-enactors made their way over from the campsite to get their breakfast. This meant amongst all the kids playing on swings and folk walking dogs, there were folk dressed in 17th century garb wandering around eating baking rolls.

In the afternoon, I went for a rather stiff and slow run to go and watch the advertised "skirmish" and you could hear it long before I got there, the deep boom of cannon interspersed with the sharper cracks of the muskets.

As I entered the park down by the river, the ground began to vibrate with every cannon shot. As it turned out, the big guns were actually based on top of the Sconce exactly in the places they would have been back during the siege of Newark in 1646, firing down on to a ruck of folk waving pikes around and firing muskets, while the enemy cannon were stationed nearer the cafe.

A commentator was explaining what was happening, but basically it was just a mighty impressive stick waving ruck, with a lot of shouting amidst the gunfire.

I sat down and had a tea, feeling rather sweaty, and nearly had a fit when all the guns fired at the same time to mark the end of the battle.

In previous years they used to have a firing squad for the prisoners, but they don't do that any more...

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 06.05.19