Villages to host Battle of Marston Moor re-enactments (From York Press)

Villages to host Battle of Marston Moor re-enactments

8:25am Wednesday 22nd June 2011 in News

TWO villages near York are to be transformed into battlegrounds from the past next month.

Long Marston and Bilton-in-Ainsty will be the venues for historical re-enactments and tours between July 1 and 3 to commemorate what is believed to be the largest conflict ever fought on English soil.

The Battle of Marston Moor on July 2, 1644, is estimated to have involved 46,000 men, with Parliamentarian forces emerging victorious in one of the most significant acts of the English Civil War.

More than 100 Royalist troop re-enactors will be at the battlefield site at Marston Grange for the event, while there will also be a field hospital at Bilton-on-Ainsty and cannon emplacements at Long Marston.

Recreated uniforms, weapons and archaeological finds will be displayed to allow visitors to picture the events in the run-up to, and during, the battle.

The event has been organised by York Archaeological Trust together with the Sealed Knot, Marston Grange and the MS Society.