Weald & Downland living museum welcome Black Knight immersive experience

The Weald & Downland Living Museum will welcome back the Black Knight Historical Living History Team from Sat 25 Jan – Sun 2 Feb 2025. The arrival of the historical re-enactment group will mark the beginning of the Museum's Ritual Year celebrations for 2025, which includes Candlemas.

‍

From cooking, sleeping, cleaning and working, the Black Knight team will take up residence at the Museum, offering an immersive glimpse into medieval life during the long winter months.

‍

Aaron Baker, Weald and Downland’s Domestic Life Interpreter, says visitor experiences like this are central to running a living museum. “We love these events as they really bring our houses to life, in a way that can only be achieved when historical interpreters sleep, eat, work and live in them.

‍

‍

“Having experts who spend a lot of time and effort into researching, experimenting and planning for these events is a real joy for us and their enthusiasm is not only infectious but also inspires out volunteers and visitors to think about the past differently.”

‍

Based around the Museum’s North Cray Medieval House, visitors can step back in time to see the daily lives of 15th-century villagers with demonstrations and activities. These include carrying out repairs and maintenance of clothing, tools and household items - including clothes, shoes, furniture, hangings, tools, and military equipment. There’s also crafting and textile-making, including embroidery , weaving, spinning, and oiled/waxed linen shutters, along with candle dipping, soap crafting, rushlight making and ink making.

‍

‍

Baker says the week-long event will be truly unique and immersive, for both Black Knight and museum visitors. “They will see that houses of the past were not cold and draughty places, but warm and welcoming. The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there,” he says, quoting English novelist L. P. Hartley. “Yet, there will be many things which at first will seem alien, but once experienced will feel very familiar. Just as today, the people of the 15th century had the same fears, expectations and desires.”

‍

Out in the winter air, the Black Knight activities and demonstrations will include basketry, willow work, broom making and net craftsmanship. There’ll also be food preparation and butchery demonstrations, religious devotions and record keeping, and other historical pastimes such as archery, games, music and readings.

‍

Baker tells me life during winter back then was broadly similar to how it is now – cold. cold! “However, unlike today, people of the 15th century would have treated it differently. Doing the long journeys we do today simply would not have been possible, due to poor roads and slow travel. Instead, staying closer to home, keeping warm indoors, only going out for essential jobs and waiting for the worst of the weather to pass would have been key. 

‍

“Waterproof clothing did exist but not on the level we have today, so in wet weather, staying indoors was important. Life would have been slower, for example, your ploughing may have taken several weeks or months, rather than the days it does today.”

‍

‍

The historical group’s time at the Museum will culminate with the Feast of Candlemas on Sunday 2 February, which marks the celebration of Christ as the light of the world. Part of the Ritual Year calendar, visitors will get the chance to see the Museum’s team carry out preparations at Bayleaf Farmstead while learning more about the traditions associated with this historically significant day.

‍

The Ritual Year is a theme that runs throughout the Museum’s interpretation programme, looking at the celebrations, festivals and traditions of the past and exploring how they have changed over time. From Twelfth Night and Easter to Midsummer, Lammas and Allhallowtide, there is a range of fascinating demonstrations that take place in the historic buildings to mark these culturally important dates throughout the year.

‍

Part of the key message at Weald & Downland Living Museum is demonstrating how important the Ritual Year was… and still is. “For thousands of years, humans have been treating the yearly passage of time as a canvas for meaning and celebration. It was a chance to commemorate great events, remember those that had come before, or praise God for His great acts of miraculous intervention or benevolent faithfulness. This was, and is, known as ‘the Ritual Year’.

‍

“Today we talk about being in harmony with nature, being sustainable, eating seasonally. This event, culminating in the Feast of Candlemas on 2nd February, which was an important Christian celebration but was also the older pre Christian festival of Imbolc (and the astronomical midway point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox) will demonstrate just that, but with the key message that for those in the "past" it wasn't just a choice but a necessity.”

‍

The Weald & Downland Living Museum welcome the Black Knight Historical Living History Team on Sat 25 Jan – Sun 2 Feb 2025. For more information, please visit their website.