CANNONS, ale and ye olde good times were experienced by all as a battle reenactment charity treated onlookers to a taste of the English Civil War last weekend at Basing House.

Members of The Sealed Knot charity, which commemorates England’s history, went to battle over Easter at the Old Basing Tudor palace, to the delight of visitors.

People were able to get an insight into the devastating English Civil War – a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists over, principally, the manner of England’s government which took place between 1642 and 1651 – as well as witnessing re-enactments around the battles, skirmishes and sieges of the war.

Basing House was owned by committed royalist John Paulet, the fifth Marquis of Winchester. Oliver Cromwell joined the siege which lasted for three years, in October 1645, before his forces routed the royalist troops – led by Charles I.

Entrants across the weekend were also able to enjoy a barbecue in the Bothy, a chance to see what life was like for camp followers and soldiers during the Civil War, to escape the siege of Basing House by crawling through its Tudor Tunnel and a Civil War tour.

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