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Oxburgh Hall Civil War Re-Enactment

Blog: Norfolk Single Dad
Posted by: Eddie2sox Sunday 5th August 2007, 10:12am
Last edited 05/08/2007 10:12am by Eddie2sox

We headed off to see a battle at Oxburgh Hall, and we had a great time!

Collected Sam on Friday afternoon, and we immediately headed off to the park, Sam on his bike, Daddy running alongside, he can get some speed up nowadays. Not a lot there these days, just three “big” swings, but we only need one of them and we had a nice time singing as usual, watching the trains coming in and going out, and spotting the builders’ machines driving past. Home again and Sam chose ham sandwiches for tea - round ones please - which he had in a sandwich box in his “trench”. We’d been playing soldiers and Sam wanted something to hide behind so we arranged his duvet on his bed and it became a trench (he calls it a trudge). Tea over it was bathtime, then bedtime after a cosy snuggle on the settee watching some live athletics on the telly.

Sam has been awake a few nights coughing apparently, so I burned eucalyptus oil in the living room and in his bedroom, as it is supposed to clear the tubes. It seemed to work a treat! I topped up the oil in Sam’s bedroom at 10 o’clock, and he only had one single cough before joining me in my room at about 4 in the morning - soon after he had a bit of a cough, no eucalyptus in my room you see! He slept in until half past six on Saturday morning, then we bounced, as usual, out of bed, up and at ‘em!

We set off for Oxburgh Hall just after 10, and arrived safe and sound after taking time along the way to show Sam the route we were taking on the roadmap. He loves maps. He actually did quite well following where we were, and I only had to point out once where the Hall was, he remembered it photographically after that. At Oxburgh Hall I had expected to pay about £10 for the two of us, but we were only charged £3.50, talk about great value for money. The day was called “Defend The Hall” and was based around the story of a Royalist retreat from King’s Lynn, and their attempted defence of Oxburgh Hall from chasing Parliamentarians. The programme reads:

1100 - Royalist encampment keeping watch at Oxburgh.

1200 - Royalist soldiers enter camp, having retreated from King’s Lynn. They have a wounded officer with them.

1215 - Troops drill in preparation to defend the Hall.

1245 - Soldiers about their duties in camp.

1300 - Parliament troops attack the camp.

1345 - 17th century meal.

1415 - Entertainment - music & puppets.

1515 - A stronger Parliamentarian force returns to attack the Hall. Terms for the Hall’s surrender are discussed.

1530 - Troops assemble for drill. Oxburgh Hall is surrendered.

We had a great time. You’re allowed to wander round the camp in between battles, and then you get ushered behind rope lines. The initial excitement was the cavaliers (in red) returning carrying a stretcher bearing the wounded Sir Henry Bedingfield. Incidentally, the Bedingfield family still live in the Hall, I tried to find Daniel to punch his lights out but he must have been on holiday. These troops then formed up to perform a display of musketry, pike, and cannon. Wow, are those muskets loud. And wow wow wow, are those cannons even louder! We’d forgotten to take Sam’s ear defenders so I had to cover his ears with my hands. What a racket! This was from, maybe 6 muskets and one gun - I just can’t imagine how loud and smoky the battlefield would have been with thousands of muskets and cannons all firing at the same time, scary stuff. The display was great though, the “officers” trying to keep the “men” in line, while the men kept making cheeky remarks to the audience. Great stuff.

The next event was the first attack by the Roundheads (in blue) on the camp, which was very noisy, very smoky, and excellent viewing! A Royalist got “killed”, then when his comrades were advancing, camp followers stole his shoes, belt and money, how naughty. After a great fight the Royalists beat off the Roundheads, taking some of them prisoner and persuading them to “turn their coats” and join them in the next fight. The officers demanded a round of applause - LOUDER and the dead will arise! - and Sam and me headed off for a walk. First stop the shop, hoping to find another magnet to add to our collection on our fridge door - no luck with the magnet but Sam did find himself a helmet that he liked (a plastic one). Next we headed off around one of the three nature walks that start from the gardens, we (well, Sam) chose My Lady’s Walk, which was absolutely beautiful.

We rolled down the slopes around the parterre (Google it!) together - only banged heads once! - then went to have a look around the fascinating walled garden. Sam was astounded by the size of the sunflowers - they must have been 4 metres tall (12 feet for oldies), cool! He also took an interest in several other flowers, asking what they were, and helpfully Oxburgh Hall places small signs near their plants telling you what they are! I really like the fact that Sam is interested in the nature of a place as well as the fighting and shooting stuff.

Soon we headed back to camp to watch the puppet show, Sam really enjoyed it. It was a re-hash of the three billy goats gruff, called the Three Dragons Puff. Instruments were handed into the children watching, for them to make a noise with when “their” character appeared - there were two scallop shells to be banged together for the small dragon, two wooden tubes for the medium dragon, and a big drum for the big dragon. The troll had a weird thing with a spring and a cylinder that made a very troll-y noise! The story was very home-made and great fun, Sam loved it.

It was about time for an ice cream, so we found some shade under a tree to tuck in. We planned it well, so we were very close to the fence where the next battle would happen. And all of a sudden it did. More Roundheads came back and after another great scrap the Royalists surrendered. Lots of carefully rehearsed ad-libs from the combatants made it a treat for us adults, while seeing a real, old-fashioned battle kept the nippers enthralled. One Royalist officer had run away to hide in a tent during the battle, and was found, tried, and executed by firing squad, hard lines dude. What a great display, I’ll be writing to the group who did it to say thanks.

Sam had had enough noise and smoke by now, so we got in the car, pumped the aircon up to max, and came home, reading the map in reverse. We didn’t have a great deal of time left by now, so I made Sam his tea of spaghetti bolognaise (he scoffed it and said it was delicious - high praise indeed from a 4 year old), then a quick bath and then a REAL treat for Sam. His first ever viewing of Some Mother’s Do Have ‘Em! He’s a lucky chap, he has so many “firsts” to come - and Frank Spencer did not disappoint. Sam thought it was fantastic. “What a clumsy funny man“ sums it up. All too soon it was back-to-mummy’s time, and another weekend ended. Love you Sam!

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