A stormy August evening, 1642, and the King’s flag was hoisted at Nottingham, marking the beginning of a Civil War that would divide the whole country over the next six years and split whole families into opposing groups.  Sunday afternoons in 1642 and you’d find the men and boys practising their military manoeuvres – however rough and ready – with the womenfolk safely indoors, ‘property’  of their fathers or husbands and thus ‘uninvolved’.

Chris Modd, a member of the Sealed Knot organisation, resplendent in full costume and with all necessary props, made the times of the Royalists and the Parliamentarians vividly real for the whole of Year 8. He swung his pike alarmingly close over our heads, wielded his sword and showed us how to load a musket. Year 8s wilted under the weight of the helmet they put on, and buckled at the knees with the breast plate added. Six of them bravely stepped up and were drilled as a group preparing for the battle at Edge Hill. Chris was clearly unimpressed with their technique though he fell short of hurling the insults ‘Roundhead’ (short- haired thug/bully) and ‘Cavalier!’ (horse trooper/Spanish papist)…..

It was a great way for Year 8 to think about how the Civil Wars would have affected them, depending what part of the country they were living in, and what decisions they might have made. Chris translated his enthusiasm for this part of history brilliantly, and Rebecca, Priya, Janine and Ella, pictured in full war-cry here, declared they would definitely have been royalists.

Thank you, History department!