The medieval festival Battle For Black Cat returns “bigger than ever”

The annual Battle For Black Cat medieval festival takes place near Roves Farm on Saturday and Sunday and organisers say it will be bigger than ever this year.

There will be live demonstrations of medieval weaponry, a lively village, market stalls, food and drink including mead, jousting and competitions such as archery and jousting.

The main event is the large-scale battle re-enactment that takes place on both days, involving over a hundred people and including horseback archery.

(Image: Medieval Festival “Battle for Black Cat”)

John Mackney, one of the organisers, said: “This year will be our biggest and best event yet. The event will run over two days, August 31 and September 1. Gates will be open to the public from 10am.”

“This year we tried to make sure there was always something happening.”

“There is a modern market with artisans and craftspeople, as well as a historical market selling historical equipment and reenactment gear, a knight school for children, a knight dressing up demonstration and much more.

“This all leads to the battle in which 130 armed men and another 70 archers take to the field and fight in the Battle of Black Cat.

“The story behind it is that the sovereign went abroad to fight and collected taxes to cover the costs of his battles, which led to an uprising at home. When he returned to collect his taxes, he encountered an army of peasants.

“The two armies will come at each other and the battle will begin, with lots of shouting, crashing and thundering, people dying, people being dragged away, an interesting way of showing people in a safe way what a real battle it was and how hectic it was, with the sound of swords clashing.

At the end of the battle we will see who the winner is.”

The event is fully funded by the House of Hungerford Reenactment Club, who attend other events across the UK to raise enough money to run the festival locally.

“Please support these events. It's something different for people and it's all about having fun,” John added.

The festival takes place at Roves Farm Lane, Swindon, UK and tickets cost £5 for adults and £3.50 for children.