SCORES of people were transported to Medieval times this weekend, thanks to a special festival in York.

The third annual Yorkshire Medieval Festival was held in Rowntree Park this weekend, with visitors learning more about the period, joining in ancient games, and listening to stories and songs from minstrels and knights.

In preparation for the event, knights from the festival met up with players from York City Knights rugby team for a training exercise, which saw players try on traditional armour and see how it compared to their usual kit.

Jack Stearman, community development officer for York City Knights, said: "Our players are used to working with weights during training, but wearing the mail vests distributes an extra 14 kilos in weight across the player’s body – and that significantly affects performance.

"When you see just how much kit these knights had to wear during battle, it gives you a completely new perspective on the levels of fitness they would have had to be able to walk, run and fight for prolonged periods."

Next weekend, the Swords & Sieges event will be held at Knaresborough Castle, with sword fighting workshops, castle tours, crafts and activities between 11am and 4pm, while Medieval combat classes will run at York Guildgall between Monday, August 18, and Friday, August 22.

To find out more go to yorkshire-medieval-festival.com