Hedingham Castle hosts bank holiday medieval event

Hedingham Castle, off Bayley Street, Castle Hedingham, hosted its Knights of Royal England Joust event on Sunday and bank holiday Monday.

Roughly 2,000 visitors were given the chance to step back in time to see the 900-year-old castle grounds transformed into a battleground with medieval knights jousting as well as many other pursuits of the period.

Jousting was an extremely popular sporting contest during the medieval period where two knights would face off against each other on horseback.

Ready for battle - the knights entering the battlefield (Image: Hedingham Castle)

Epic - an image of the battle area where the knights fought (Image: Hedingham Castle)

Skilled a - knight jousting a target (Image: Hedingham Castle)

They would carry lances to hit their opponents from their horse, in a game which required great skill, courage and accuracy.

Two jousts were held each day by the Knights of Royal England, a live stunt show group which has more than 20 years of experience.

Across the two-day event, there was also archery, axe throwing, birds of prey, food and drink stalls, a medieval village and much more on offer to the attendees.

The Colchester Waits Shawm Band provided musical entertainment by using old-time-period accurate instruments such as shawms, trumpets, sackbuts, cornetts, lysards, bagpipes, recorders, gemshorns and fiddles.

Exciting a knight warming up for a joust (Image: Hedingham Castle)

Music - The Colchester Waits Shawm Band in action (Image: Hedingham Castle)

Great - Lisa from Eden Falconry with an owl named Toffee (Image: Hedingham Castle)

Essex-based family business, Eden Falconry, was also at the event to display their beautiful birds of prey and introduce the crowds to their world.

Eden Falconry also provides informative experiences for schools, corporate events, and weddings.

Crowd pleasing - an audience watching a joust (Image: Hedingham Castle)

In character - a medieval camp at Hedingham Castle (Image: Hedingham Castle)

Hedingham Castle marketing manager Steffi Dry said: “Despite the volatile weather forecasts, the rain mostly held off and thankfully the predicted thunderstorms never appeared, there was even some sun.

“We had close to 2,000 visitors over the Sunday and Monday and the Knights of Royal England were fantastic as always - lots of fun, crowd involvement and amazing skill on horseback.

“Eden Falconry wowed the audience with their beautiful birds of prey, and we were treated to medieval music by Colchester Waits.

“Visitors tried their hands at archery, axe throwing and some traditional fairground games.”