English Heritage Special Events (English Heritage)

Member Name: mpeh

Product:	English Heritage
Date:	27/08/01 (72 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Educational, Fun, Well balanced

Disadvantages: Quite pricey if not a member, No food

Right firstly this isn't a review on English Heritage in general, so sorry this is technically speaking in the wrong place. BUT this is a review on the special events that English Heritage put on in their many properties (if that's the right word) around the country and I can't think of anywhere better to put this, any suggestions in comments please. Oh and one other thing before I launch into the diatribe proper; this is perfectly adaptable to the non English equivalent organisations as I happen to know they organise their special events in very similar ways.

Right if you've managed to stick with me through that little lot here we go: I recently attended a special event at Old Sarum in Wiltshire. It is an iron age hill fort refortified by the Romano-British against the marauding Saxon bands, or band as the case may well have been. The settlement grew from there and as the Normans developed it, it became a city with a cathedral and a castle and a palace. This continued until the early 13th century when lack of water on site drove them to build New Sarum in the valley which has become the modern town of Salisbury.

It was free to get in for members and £5 for adults, £3.80 concession I think. I attended the event with two historians, one whose period was Anglo-Saxon Britain, the period on display. [Aside- ever notice when you ask an Historian a history question they either know the answer with details in the minutiae or say 'Sorry not my period'. To quote Steven Pinker (a psychologist I think) this is due to 'the great academic tradition of knowing more and more about less and less until you know everything about nothing'.] The point of saying this was that if they could enjoy the experience without standing there and saying 'Well that's not quite true, and that isn't necessarily correct' then any normal (well balanced) person (such as a mathematician) with little or no knowledge of the period could too
. The fact that we all learned something, me much more than my companions I'm sure, also points to the quality of the event. Although this review will deal mainly with the event I recently attended the points I am trying to raise apply to all the special events, they are of generally the same ilk and quality.

Now to tell you what was actually at the event. Well there were, first and foremost, lots of people from re-enactment societies with period clothing, weaponry and other equipment. These people had travelled from all over the place to be there for the day, and although the organisations they belonged to were being paid by English Heritage the performers, or members were there out of the goodness of their hearts and a passion for what they were doing. There were mock battles, parade ground style marches from Roman Legionaries who allowed the audience to view their weapons and equipment and displays of firing a ballistae and another siege weapon whose name escapes me. All of this was delivered in a friendly unassuming way by people glad to be questioned and obviously enjoying themselves and the whole display was talked over by a man in costume with a slightly out of period gizmo they apparently call a microphone.

Other things included a talk, with demonstrations on 5th century surgery which was possibly the best thing all day, delivered by a 'surgeon' who talked the audience through the procedures he pretended to carry out. With mock blood and screaming aplenty, and a team of volunteers to hold the patient down the whole show was hugely entertaining. As with all the other things during the day the show was put on with a feeling for who the audience was. Knowing many families were there they catered effortlessly (or so it seemed) for children and adults alike. The talk was informative without being boring or the performer lecturing and it included many quips and comments aimed at the adults, and some at the children with plenty of gory
detail guaranteed to enthral and amuse the kids. Again I'm writing about specifics but all the people who perform on days like these manage to do the same.

After each performance or talk or mock gladiatorial combat the performers allow anyone to come and talk to them, to heft their weapons stroke their clothing or test the equipment. They are always helpful and knowledgeable and, best of all, are more than willing to give that oh so precious answer 'I'm not sure try asking so and so'. This means that for people happy with the displays as they stand you can walk away and enjoy something else and for those bloodthirsty seekers after knowledge (like my companions) you can go and grill some poor innocent about the exact way a legionary stabbed with the Gladius or the way an Anglo-Saxon was buried with ear rings or whatever.

There were many stalls, well tents really, each with a particular topic, period jewellery or weaving methods or weaponry, armour, games loads of things. At these events there always are such things, usually in tents for the outdoor things but often on tables or separate rooms at the indoor events. Again the joy of this approach is that you can wander and take things in randomly or just go and look at those things which interest you and of course each tent is manned by a helpful person who can answer all your questions or point you in the right direction.

There were plenty of things to amuse children, many of which happily amused me and I don't like to think of myself as too much of a children. A puppet show, with vegetable actors of Boudicca's revolt and consequent death and all the games in the tents. Nothing was too much trouble for the volunteers, performers, actors whatever you want to call them and they let the children (and the adults) try as much as they could without breaching safety.

Speaking of which the safety at events such as this is obviously something which needs considerin
g. With battles full of blunted weapons and displays with siege weapons and ballistae bolts the crowd need to be kept separate from the action. There were double tape barriers to ensure a big gap between all the performances and the public and all the dangerous items were kept at the back of tents and only allowed to be looked at under careful supervision.

This leaves me only two things to say: First the timetable was very good, not perfectly stuck to but that's life with events like these. Some things over ran and then others were late, oh well. Also they repeated the main performances, there were often two things going on at once and so to allow you to see everything they put displays on once at towards the beginning of the afternoon and once at the end. Secondly bring your own packed lunch. The one problem was that there was only one food stall and that was a thoroughly modern burger stall which was vastly over priced and under stocked. That said the food wasn't too bad but there was always a queue and it also wasn't that great.

Apologies for misdirecting those of you who wanted to read about English Heritage but I'm not sure where else I could have put this. Thanks for reading. Matt

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