Creating educational, entertaining and memorable experiences through living history!
This blog charts our work and also has specially written educational articles for your reading pleasure.
9th April 2017, 10am - 5pm.
Discover what life for peasants living in Northumberland was like in medieval times at this brand new event!
Wander our living history camp within the walls of the castle, immerse yourself in the sights and smells of medieval life and enjoy our varied displays from weapons display to mummers play.
This event is brought to you by Iron Shepherds Living History with the support of English Heritage.
PEASANTS' LIFE at AYDON CASTLE, near Corbridge. 9th April 2017, 10am - 5pm.
During the Dickensian Festival in Ulverston this past weekend we had a authentic Victorian yard set up. Because we had this unique setting we thought it might be fun to film a Mannequin Challenge. So we did and this is the result:
We hope you enjoyed it and please do share with others!
Another year goes by for us here at Iron Shepherds and what a year it has been! From our very own living history festival to old favourites it has been a jam packed year full of fun and excitement.
The Winter, as it tends to be, was a quiet one. We had no events to attend but we did spend the time planning for our coming season and one of the big things we had planned was a brand new living history festival called Life in the Past. We had the idea of creating a series of events and talks which would cover different periods of local history but be held under the umbrella of a larger festival and we set about making it happen.
We soon managed to organise 6 living history events and 3 fascinating talks by archaeologists and specialists including one by a lecturer at Cambridge University. It was soon time to start the festival, which we did come May...
May 2016
Monks Life | Life in the Past Festival
08.05.16
This was the first in our Life in the Past series of events and it was a return to one of our old favourites: Monks Life.
We set up our display inside the cloister of Furness Abbey where us monks would be based all day discussing our daily life. We also had two visiting nuns on site over in the cemetery gate house, women were seldom allowed into the main Abbey complex in the time of the monks so our nuns had to keep their distance.
Brother Bertram also took two tours of the monastic site to give visitors a better understanding of the abbey and the lives the monks led.
It was a lovely day and a fantastic start to our Life in the Past Festival.
At the start of the festival, and throughout, we created several videos to introduce and showcase the events. You can watch all these videos here:
Prehistoric communities and the changing face of the Furness Peninsula | Life in the Past Festival
10.05.16
As part of Life in the Past we held several talks by local archaeologists and experts and this was the first one by Dr. Craig Appley all about Prehistoric Furness. It was an excellent talk which really brought to life what the area must have looked like at the time.
There were many folk in the audience who all enjoyed the talk and Craig's delivery.
Medieval Law and Order | Life in the Past Festival
21.05.16
The second in our festival event series took place at Dalton Castle and delved into Medieval Law and Order in Furness. We created part of a court room set in the top room of the castle where our law breaker, held in the dungeon, would be put on trial throughout the day. We also had a few crafts on display to show how the locals were living in the 14th Century.
The trials were the highlight of the day giving visitors an idea of how a medieval trial might take place and for what crimes they might be undertaken. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the trials and we were really pleased with it.
June 2016
Holker Garden Festival
03-04.06.16
English Heritage invited us once again to set up alongside them at the Holker Garden Festival. This was our third year of attending the festival and as with every year it was lovely! It was super warm in the big tent but we enjoyed chatting to people, promoting our coming events and displaying some crafts.
We were saddened to hear later in the year that this turned out to be the last ever Holker Garden Festival as they have decided to bring it to an end after 24 years. Sad news for all.
Tudor Dissolver | Life in the Past Festival
05.06.16
Time for another Life in the Past event, this time we changed it up a bit and went Tudor! This event took place at Furness Abbey and took a closer look at the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
We had a small set up in front of the great church at the abbey where we spoke with people throughout the day and also displayed pewter melting and casting to illustrate the melting of the lead roofs of the abbey.
A lovely, hot, day which went really well!
The Development of Medieval Ulverston | Life in the Past Festival
14.06.16
Another fantastic Life in the Past talk, this time by Daniel Elsworth of Greenlane Archaeology. Dan spoke about the Medieval period in Ulverston from the finds that have been found, although few in number, to the place names of the town.
It was another successful talk with many showing up to watch and listen.
Family Fun Day at Gleaston
25.06.16
June came and it was that time of year again, time for the Family Fun Day at Gleaston. This was our third time at this lovely event. We set up our Norman camp, displayed crafts and spoke to visitors. It was, as always, a most pleasant day thoroughly enjoyed by all of us. We will be returning to this event again next year so do come along on the 24th June 2017.
July 2016
Victorian Fun & Games
03.07.16
Once again a brand new event for 2016 created by us for our Life in the Past Festival! This time delving into Victorian Furness and the fun and games of the time.
Furness Abbey was our backdrop where we set up numerous tents, lots of bunting and many many exciting games and toys. Families came out in their droves to enjoy the entertainment from the games to the tours to the singing of the Furness Nightingale, a family singing group who are part of the Iron Shepherds.
The day was a huge success and we were are very pleased to say we will be returning to Furness Abbey next year for another day of Victorian Fun & Games on 23rd July! Do come along to experience a truly Victorian day out!
Sea-Kings and Saints: the Furness Peninsula in the Viking Age | Life in the Past Festival
12.07.16
The final of our Life in the Past talks and a fine end it was too! Dr. Fiona Edmonds of University of Cambridge came up to lecture on the Furness Peninsula in the Viking Age. The talk took place at the Forum in Barrow and the room was packed with people all excited to hear what Fiona had to say. The talk was wonderful and was greatly received by all attending.
Victorian Social History | Life in the Past Festival
23.07.16
Another chance to showcase our Victorian living history at another Life in the Past Festival event; Victorian Social History! This time we were at the Dock Museum in Barrow, a new location for us as far as events go, and a brilliant day was had by all.
We were based inside the museum in the main dock hall where we had crafts from the Victorian era on display as well as a few games to play alongside singing from the Furness Nightingales. The idea of this display was to give an idea of the lives and jobs of the varying social classes living in the local area. It was a great, if very warm, day which was a huge success!
August 2016
1920's Workmen | Life in the Past Festival
07.08.16
Ah, 1920's workmen! This was certainly a different event for us but a fantastic one! As part of the Life in the Past Festival we had decided to showcase the incredible work undertaken in the late 1920s by local men to underpin and stabilise large parts of Furness Abbey.
We have always been hugely impressed and inspired by the work done by those every day working men and were keen to share their achievements to others. To do this we dressed in period costume, set up shop in the old ticket office inside the ruins of the abbey and performed 3 tours throughout the day. These tours specifically looked at the work undertaken and showed areas of the site where evidence of their work can be seen, or in many cases can't be seen! We had great responses from this event and were so pleased to have put it on.
This event was also special for us as it was the final part of our Life in the Past Festival. The whole festival, from inception to completion, was a huge undertaking. There was so much organisation, promotion and creation required. It took a lot of time for us all and when it came to an end we were all so immensely proud and pleased. It had been a success and that was all we ever wished. We hope that anyone who attended any of our events or talks enjoyed them and learnt something from them.
Back to our normal event schedule and it was time for the annual Medieval Fair at Furness Abbey.
We had worked on a new camp layout and site along with a new Norman invasion weapons display ahead of the event. Friday came and it was time to set up. All was looking great, the camp was the best it has ever looked and we were stoked for the event the next day.
Saturday came and the heavens opened! Heavy rain poured all day long. From about 10 minutes into the event we were already soaked to the skin. As is only right we carried on as usual, or at least as best we could.
Bertram tried to perform on his pole lathe but got absolutely soaked and eventually had to seek shelter. Our Furness Nightingales tried their best to perform from inside one of our large tents and Matilda endeavoured to cook on the open fire while the rain water filled up the stew. It was a real shame. Members of the public didn't want to stop for long and by the time mid afternoon arrived the decision was taken to bring the event to a close. Something or a relief for many of us! It wasn't the most ideal day but hopefully next time it will be fine and sunny...
October 2016
Appley Day
01.10.16
A lovely Norman event to end the year, Apple Day. We attended the Apple Day in Ulverston last year and really enjoyed it, so were delighted when we were invited back this year. We set up our Norman camp and displayed our crafts throughout the day. There was music from Aelswyth, cooking from Matilda and even a spot of bread making!
It was a cool but a nice day too. There were many visitors and we had many lovely chats.
That was it for our fourth year, and what a successful, enjoyable and interesting year it was! But, as they say, no rest for the wicked! We had a Victorian Yard to organise for the Dickensian Festival in Ulverston...
We at Iron Shepherds are very pleased to announce a brand new living history festival based in Furness called Life in The Past!
We have been busy creating this festival which will run from May through to August 2016. It will consist of a variety of events at various loctions covering different periods of Furness history from the 13th Century to the 1920s.
Alongside our events there will be a selection of talks by archeologists and a host of online materials. We will also be running a couple of competitions for you to get involved in!
We recently completed a short video promoting ourselves which has been put together with various shots taken throughout 2015. It gives a little taste of what we do and hopefully soon we will have more videos delving a little deeper into what we about.
And yet another year passes for Iron Shepherds Living History and boy has it been a good one! With new displays, events and members 2015 has been our best year yet and we wanted to share what we've done with you here.
January 2015
Our third year started relatively quietly this year, we had done Winter fairs the last two but this time we decided it best to forgo organising such events and concentrate on preparing new things for the coming season. Having said that we did get invited to a photo shoot ...
Photo Shoot with Barrow Digital Photography Club | 13.01.2015
In January the Barrow Digital Photography Club invited us to take part in one of their photo shoots. We accepted the invitation and went along for an evening of photo taking. We must have had hundreds if not thousands of photos snapped of us and it was a great evening! You can check out a video from the night bellow.
May 2015 Holker Garden Festival | 30+31.05.2015
In May we had our first event of the year, Holker Garden Show. We attended in 2014 along side English Heritage and Furness Abbey Fellowship and this year English Heritage asked us to return with them to put on a small display. We were there for two days, the first had Bertram, Brother Orme Tethera and new member Matilda, the basket maker, display to the public. We had may interested passers by and we promoted our brand new up coming event.
June 2015 Life in the Past | Day 1 | 06.06.2015
The 6th of May saw the start of a brand new event created by Iron Shepherds, Life in the Past.
Life in the Past had been planned and worked on throughout the winter and was set to be a two day event showcasing life in the past at and around Furness Abbey. Day one was meet the 12th century peasants to find out what life was like living in Furness and what it was like farming the land on a daily basis to produce food not only for yourself but for the Abbey.
We had two new specially written displays on the day: a farming talk written by one of our members Karen (aka Heather), which showcased farming in the 12th century and how tough yet vital it was, and a mummers play written by Paul (aka Toadflax) which was a type of play common in the time to poke fun at establishments as well as to entertain. Both displays went down well and have become part of our growing repertoire.
Life in the Past | Day 2 | 07.06.2015
The 7th was the second day of Life in the Past and this time we were 13th Century Monks for the day!
Following the success of last years Monks Life displays we wanted to include monks in our new event so our second day was dedicated to them and how they lived in Furness Abbey in the 13th Century. We had our small display area but also put on a Chapter Meeting, something that the monks had every morning, and two tours of the abbey with Brother Bertram (Stuart). The chapter meeting involved a reading of a chapter from the rules of St. Benedict followed by Brother Earnolf having to flagellate himself as penance for grumbling. People really seemed to like it!
The tours went really well also with many visitors sticking around to go on them. With glorious sunshine all day it really made the day, even if we did get a little warm in our woollen habits!
Take a look at the pictures bellow as well as the advert created to promote the event.
Family Fun Day at Gleaston | 27.06.15
At the end of June we returned to Gleaston for their second family fun day. We set up our camp at the edge of the field and demonstrated through the afternoon. It was a lovely event that we were pleased to have returned to. It was also a very warm summers day, one of but a few we had this summer!
August 2015
Muncaster Living History Week | 25-26.08.15
What a lovely if wet time we had at Muncaster this year. We were back for a third year of Living History week and it was a great one! We arrived on the Monday night before our two day stint to find a very wet, marshy field to set up in. Every other year we had attended the field was nice and dry but due to heavy rain this time the site was saturated. We looked around and set our tents up on the slightly higher, dryer land near where we usually set up. We wanted to stay dry when we slept! Eventually we had our camp, this time in a long line of tents, something we had tried before. It proved to work over the course of the two days but we do prefer our usual set up. We met many people over the two days as we demonstrated various crafts, performed our mummers play and weapons display. As always it was a wonderful event to be part of!
Medieval Fair at Furness Abbey | 05.09.15
Early in September we were back at Furness Abbey for another Medieval Fair, the third in fact! The sun was shining and people came out in their droves to enjoy a day in the ruins and enjoying the entertainment. We could be found inside our camp working on our crafts or in the display arena performing our weapons display. The day was wonderful and we all had a fantastic time chatting to the public and demonstrating. It's always a pleasure to be at Furness Abbey and the sunshine and interested visitors always helps! We even set up a camera to take a time-lapse throughout the day, this can be seen in the video player below. It certainly shows the amount of people who move through our camp during the day and the bright sunshine.
Magna Carta 800, Cartmel | 26+27.09.15
Another new event for us in 2015 was the Magna Carta 800 celebration at Cartmel. It was a two day event to celebrate the 800th year of Magna Carta and it featured ourselves alongside another re-enactment group, Tournee. We showcased daily life and crafts while the they performed large combat displays to the crowds. Together we filled the majority of the display field next to craft stalls and food tents. Over the weekend many thousands of people (possibly 10,000+) visited the village and came to wander our camp and chat to us. We often had large crowds of people around us watching as we demonstrated which put the pressure on but also really made the day special. It was a truly fantastic event and something we are very proud to have been a part of! If this event were to happen again we would be there at the drop of a hat!
Apple Day, Ulverston | 03.10.15
Our first ever October event took place at Ford Park in Ulverston where we were part of Apple Day. We had a small camp set up in part of the field where we spoke to the public about life in 12th Century Furness. Most of us were peasants but we did have one monk attend to give the religious aspect of the time. There was thick mist throughout the day which gave a certain atmosphere to proceedings and it did make it a little chilly. It was a lovely event and we met many interested people.
Magna Carta Medieval Fayre, Witherslack | 04.10.15
Another October event! This one the day after Apple Day. We were asked to attend a Medieval Fayre in Witherslack to celebrate the Magna Carta. We jumped at the chance and took out kit over for the Sunday event. This event saw us try out another layout for our camp, this time we pitched up in a sort of diamond shape in the centre of the field. This meant people could walk around us with someone always visible to talk to or watch. It worked well. We had a very pleasant and fun day here speaking to various folk about what we do, We even performed our weapons display twice. Something we hadn't done for two events now. It was the perfect event to finish our season off with and we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.
2015 has been a fantastic year for Iron Shepherds, we feel like we are going from strength to strength and are very excited to see what the future holds! We have many ideas for the coming year and hope we can share these with you in the near future, roll on 2016 lets see what you bring us!
If you would like to keep up to date with what the Iron Shepherds are doing then why not follow us on Facebook or Twitter You can also check out our website to discover what we do and what we have coming up.
This was the first in our Life in the Past series of events and it was a return to one of our old favourites: Monks Life.
As part of Life in the Past we held several talks by local archaeologists and experts and this was the first one by Dr. Craig Appley all about Prehistoric Furness. It was an excellent talk which really brought to life what the area must have looked like at the time.
Ah, 1920's workmen! This was certainly a different event for us but a fantastic one! As part of the Life in the Past Festival we had decided to showcase the incredible work undertaken in the late 1920s by local men to underpin and stabilise large parts of Furness Abbey.
We had worked on a new camp layout and site along with a new Norman invasion weapons display ahead of the event. Friday came and it was time to set up. All was looking great, the camp was the best it has ever looked and we were stoked for the event the next day.
In May we had our first event of the year, Holker Garden Show. We attended in 2014 along side English Heritage and Furness Abbey Fellowship and this year English Heritage asked us to return with them to put on a small display. We were there for two days, the first had Bertram, Brother Orme Tethera and new member Matilda, the basket maker, display to the public. We had may interested passers by and we promoted our brand new up coming event.
Life in the Past had been planned and worked on throughout the winter and was set to be a two day event showcasing life in the past at and around Furness Abbey. Day one was meet the 12th century peasants to find out what life was like living in Furness and what it was like farming the land on a daily basis to produce food not only for yourself but for the Abbey.
Following the success of last years Monks Life displays we wanted to include monks in our new event so our second day was dedicated to them and how they lived in Furness Abbey in the 13th Century. We had our small display area but also put on a Chapter Meeting, something that the monks had every morning, and two tours of the abbey with Brother Bertram (Stuart). The chapter meeting involved a reading of a chapter from the rules of St. Benedict followed by Brother Earnolf having to flagellate himself as penance for grumbling. People really seemed to like it!
