How A Warwickshire Reenactors Fair Brings History to Life
The Winter 2023 Artisan and Reenactors Market / Image courtesy of Warwickshire Event Centre
Lute music and the smell of hot chocolate wafted through the Warwickshire Event Centre as guests entered the mammoth hall. A large sign loomed over the entrance, announcing ‘WE SELL MEAD!’, families dressed in matching costumes flitted between stalls filled with bows, potions, and knights helmets. This is the Artisan and Reenactors Market, a venue for those with a passion for history and re-enactment to buy their wares from travelling merchants.
Hundreds of people, from sword nerds to Tudor costumers gathered at the centre near Royal Leamington Spa this weekend. This year was particularly busy. Since the event began in 2019, the market has grown to include over 100 stalls, each run by independent artisans.
Whatever a nerd could need could be found at one of the stalls. Every niche in the community was accounted for. People can be found peddling dice for Dungeons and Dragons, prop swords, homemade jerky, or historical hats. Vendors each brought their own passions to the event, many of them, such as the Tudor Tailor, have their own books teaching their crafts, and others run workshops on topics such as swordsmithing and historical cookery. What is clear here is a shared passion for history.
“We’ve always loved our history”, Georgina Ratcliffe, the director of the Artisan and Reenactors Market said.
The re-enactors range from cooking stew in medieval and Tudor costumes, to dancing in Georgian finery, to fighting as a World War I Tommy. While many pride themselves on historical accuracy, down to the very fabric of their clothing, some of the costumes are simply fanciful, with fairy wings or Celtic-inspired corsets. All are welcome. “We’ve got everything from around 1250 all the way through to the 1940s”, explained Georgina.
Fairs like this have also been integral in getting more women involved in the scene.
“The history of women is a big thing for me”, said Georgina, “A lot of people think that women just ate, slept, and had babies, but obviously they did so much more throughout the whole of history”.
Until recently, it has been difficult for female re-enactors to get accurate costumes for events. Items such as reproduction uniforms have usually only been produced in men’s styles and sizes. “It’s definitely a more male-dominated hobby. It’s starting to change now”, concluded Georgina.
A number of people had travelled from across the country to visit the fair, some from as far as Aberdeenshire in Scotland.
For many, it’s a way to make money while also doing work that they’re passionate about.
Susie Cowley, a vendor at the market who runs Cowley’s Fine Foods, travelled from South Wales to sell her artisan food. She said: “We started off as re-enactors, and then just started trading from there, to fund our hobby initially.
“My husband was trained as a chef in a pub where everything was boil-in-the-bag or put in the microwave and it used to make him so sad, so one day he decided I’m going to do this, and we started off with just four flavours and three sorts of fruit leather, and now this is just a small selection of the items we sell”, she continued.
