Medieval life - warts and all - this summer at Kenilworth Castle
Time Travellers Go... activities - weekdays 30 July – 24 August
From criminal activities to the punishments that awaited those guilty of committing them, visitors to Kenilworth Castle this summer will be invited to join English Heritage’s Time Travellers for a host of heinous and horrible historic happenings as part of the site’s Medieval Summer!
The first Time Travelling crew to arrive (Monday 30 July to Friday 3 August) will focus on the rogues and villains that operated throughout the land. Using Kenilworth’s trees as cover, young visitors can join Robin Hood’s band of merry men, learning how to handle the quarterstaff and fighting off the evil Sheriff of Nottingham at regular points during the day.
Also patrolling the site will be a highwayman, a criminal whose life was often much tougher than the ‘dandy gent’ portrayed in movies and on TV. Knowing that a gruesome death awaited him if he got caught, the highwayman would be ruthless, often taking very unpleasant steps to make sure there were no witnesses to his crimes...
The criminal elements get their come-uppance the following week (Monday 6 to Friday 10 August), when it is those responsible for punishment who take over the site! A trio of characters involved with the bloodier side of the justice system – including a medieval torturer – set up their tents within the castle walls to demonstrate how the brutal punishment meted out to those committing crimes functioned as a rather effective deterrent to breaking the law! Visitors will be able to handle some medieval torture implements to try and guess their purpose, from thumb screws to items used on rather more sensitive parts!
“Over these first two weeks, we really get to see the two extremes of medieval society – but whose lives were inextricably linked,” comments property manager, Holly Woodward. “In the days before England had any kind of joined-up police force or means of identifying someone as a criminal, those in charge of law and order had to make sure that the fear of sanctions – which could include the death penalty for even a relatively minor theft of food or poaching – kept people on the right path, and that those who were caught for more minor crimes were permanently branded with some kind of symbol of their crime, from a brand on their forehead or a torn ear to the loss of a hand.”
Kenilworth Castle’s full programme of Time Travelling fun includes:
- Time Travellers Go... Rogues & Villains, Monday 30 July to Friday 3 August
- Time Travellers Go... Gruesome, Monday 6 – Friday 10 August
- Time Travellers Go... Medieval, Monday 13 to Friday 17 August
- Time Travellers Go... Knights and Princesses, Monday 20 – Friday 24 August
Time Travellers Go... events run every weekday from Monday 30 July to Friday 24 August. The activities run from 11.00am to 5.00pm, with the Castle and Elizabethan Garden opening one hour earlier at 10.00am.
Weekend visitors will not miss out on the medieval merriment, either, with a fun family Kings & Queens Trail around the grounds running for the first three weekends in August. Participants have to find a series of medieval model monarchs hiding around the grounds, and will receive a certificate of excellence when they find them all!
Admission prices are £8.20 for adults, £7.40 for concessions, £4.90 for children or £21.30 for a family ticket (two adults and up to three children). English Heritage members get in free. There is an additional £1 charge per child (member and non-member) to help fund the Time Travellers event.
Kenilworth Castle’s Medieval Summer draws to a close over the August Bank Holiday weekend with the grand final of the Knights Tournament, a competition which has taken place in heats around the country over the last couple of months, and which will see English Heritage’s grand champion crowned on Bank Holiday Monday 27 August, at the end of two days of crucial combat!
For more information on events at Kenilworth Castle, please visit www.english-heritage.org.uk/kenilworth or call 01926 852078. You can also follow Kenilworth Castle on Facebook.
ENDS
For further media information, please contact:
Jay Commins – PRO English Heritage (West Midlands)
Tel: 0113 251 5698
Mob: 07810 546567
Email: jay@fim.org.uk
