The Vikings come to Tatton Old Hall!




Battle ©Margaret Clark



Sunday 14 August  saw the Old Hall taken over by The Vikings of Middle England, a really great group of re-enactors showing us how the Vikings lived...not just how we all imagine they were like, fighting and pillaging, but how they were in their daily life.



Of course the fighting is important and these guys don’t pull any punches and demonstrated types of weapons and how they were used both as individual warriors and also as an organised fighting group...axes biting into shields and pieces of wood flying off into the air...and encouraged to cheer for your chosen warrior.



Also a Viking Longship Experience...with a real boat... with involvement for the children imagining what it would have been like to sail in one of these ships and be ready to fight when you landed.

There was a storyteller keeping the children engrossed, have-a-go archery, try your hand at calligraphy and strike a Viking coin...along with just chatting to the re-enactors by their tents.



My Lady

©Margaret Clark



Gauntlet Birds of Prey gave their usual professional display of flying the birds...then a display of a war horse with the rider giving a very accurate account of using a lance and sword and shooting the longbow from the back of the horse...he was dressed in the Norman way but then they were originally Northmen and Normandy was another Viking Kingdom.

Most of the displays happened twice and kept everyone interested and happy...



It was a non-stop day with something going on all the time, very busy with lots of people coming through the Old Hall, trying on armour in the Great Hall and being interested in the building and the people who lived there from early days right through to the 1960s...and the weather was kind to us!

A successful and great day all round.  You can find out more about Viking Sunday here and look out for similar events on our website.



Margaret Clark

History Interpreter Guide