Once again, our local Viking re-enactment group, Jotunns Wrath, will be establishing a Living History village in Hunsbury Hill Country Park on 7th & 8th September for Heritage Open Days 2024.
From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day there will be a programme of re-enactments ~ mock battles, skirmishes, ambushes and other Living History demonstrations. Those of you who enjoyed this last year will know how much fun these were ~especially for the children who were given the opportunity to thump the living daylights out of their parents !
In the Living History village, Jotunns Wrath will be displaying artefacts, food & cooking, weapons and armour of the period and also crafted wares, some of which will be for sale.
They will have a 22 ft. Viking ship with them (but not on water), as well as answering questions and chatting about the Viking way of life and the places and times in which they lived.
This year, for Saturday 7th September only, we are delighted to be able to welcome chainsaw artist Peter Leadbeater to our Heritage Open Days event. Earlier this year, Peter carved the beautiful benches for us which we now have dotted around our various West Hunsbury Parks.
Peter will be giving 4 demonstrations of speed carving with a chainsaw throughout Saturday. These demos will be about 25-30 minutes each and Peter (or his audience) will choose from :
- Mushroom
- Owl
- Easter Island head
- Horses head
- Flower
The completed carvings will be raffled off at 4:50pm on Saturday 7th.
Event timings for the weekend are subject to confirmation, but we anticipate something like this:
| Saturday 7th September | ||
| 11:00 – 5:00pm | Living History Village ‘OPEN’ | Jotunns Wrath |
| 11:15 – 11:45 | Chainsaw Speed Carving Demonstration | Peter Leadbeater |
| 12:00 – 1:00pm | Open Arena battle | Jotunns Wrath |
| 1:15 – 1:45pm | Chainsaw Speed Carving Demonstration | Peter Leadbeater |
| 2:15 – 2:45pm | Chainsaw Speed Carving Demonstration | Peter Leadbeater |
| 3:00 – 4:00pm | Open Arena battle | Jotunns Wrath |
| 4:15 – 4:45pm | Speed Carving Chainsaw Demonstration | Peter Leadbeater |
| 4:45 – 5:00pm | Raffle for Chainsaw Speed Carvings | FoWHP |
| Sunday 8th September | ||
| 11:00 – 5:00pm | Living History Village ‘OPEN’ | Jotunns Wrath |
| 12:00 – 1:00pm | Open Arena battle | Jotunns Wrath |
| 3:00 – 4:00pm | Open Arena battle | Jotunns Wrath |
Hunsbury Iron Age Hillfort was occupied for probably 500 years, from about 500 BC to just before the time of the Romans. Although it was abandoned before the Romans invaded in 43 AD, the Anglo-Saxon pottery that has been found there suggests that the site was re-occupied, or at least visited, during the mediaeval ‘Dark Ages’ (450 – 1066 AD) after the Romans left, when the Vikings and Saxons were battling for land around Northampton.
As with all Heritage Open Days events in West Hunsbury Parks, entry and parking are FREE (although we are always happy to accept as much donation as you want to give).
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