About Us

The Sealed Knot is the oldest re-enactment society in the UK, a registered educational charity, and the single biggest re-enactment society in Europe.

Who we are

Back in FEBRUARY 1968 Brigadier Peter Young and a group of friends, following a garden party in cavalier costume to publicise the launch of Peter Young’s book on the Battle of Edgehill, came up with the idea of forming a period army – an idea that soon took off and within two years there were more than one thousand members of this Royalist Army. Now, we are about to enter our 50th year, with the early addition of the army of Parliament and later the Army of Ireland and Scotland, our membership has grown to make us the biggest society in Europe. The aims of the Society are not to glorify war, but to honour those that died in the many battles of the English Civil War, and to educate the public about those wars, and also about the lives and times of people in that period.

The name of the Society derives from a group, which, during the Protectorate, plotted for the restoration of the monarchy. Here the similarity ends as the present society is NON POLITICAL AND HAS NO POLITICAL AFFILIATION OR AMBITIONS.

WHAT DO WE DO

The Sealed Knot brings history to life by staging events throughout the country all year round, offering a chance to experience at first hand the horrors of a nation at war with itself, as well as providing a glimpse of everyday life in those days.

Our events vary in size: a major battle lasts for two or three days, often (but not always) over Bank Holiday weekends, and can see thousands of combatants taking to the field. At the other end of the scale, in small groups we visit schools at their request to give pupils a more hands-on approach to history by seeing us in costume, being able to ask us questions, and also handle some of the equipment we take with us. Pupils can learn about cookery, clothes, education and politics alongside the weapons and battle strategies in their own schools from people who have studied the period.

We are sometimes invited to ‘populate’ historic buildings, to illustrate what life would have been like there in the 17th century. Between these, we have a number of other size events (for more details see our Events page), and if you’re not careful you may be pressed in to one of the armies!

Experience the history

Do you want to experience the horrors of a nation at war with itself, brother against brother, father against son, families torn apart. Cannon roar, musketeers volley, an all action battle unfolds when members of the Sealed Knot recreate two forces, one of the King Charles I and one of Parliament under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell.

Or would you like to wander round the Living History Camp which consists of Trades who supplied the Armies and Crafts of the period all presented by folks knowledgeable in their field.

Perhaps you would like to join our Society and take part in this wonderful hobby itself and re-enact in locations across the UK from Cornwall to Aberdeenshire.