Cannon fired at Marston Moor to honour fallen (From York Press)

Cannon fired at Marston Moor to honour fallen

8:46am Tuesday 11th May 2010 in

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A cannonball flew over Marston Moor for the first time in nearly 400 years.

A group of English Civil War Sealed Knot re-enactment soldiers from Liburnes and Glenhams regiment, dressed in full uniform, fired a cannon in honour of those who fell during the battle and to raise funds for St Leonard’s Hospice, in York.

Russell Marwood, the battlefields project officer with York Archealogical Trust, led a walk to show where Royalists and Parlimentarians took their places for battle on July 2, 1644. Joanne Smakman, whose family farm is on the battlefield, said the donation had been made to the hospice because staff there had looked after her brother-in-law, John Shepherd.

She said: “It caused giggles because people kept forgetting their places in line and there were 100 people to control. It was much more of a family and friends do this year.”

Mrs Smakman said a raffle to guess the weight of a cannonball and cake sales on the day raised more than £100.

She said she was hoping to raise over £1,000 in total.