The Siege and Battle of Herstmonceux Castle as seen at England's Medieval Festival

The centre piece of the Festival is the morning siege and afternoon battle for Herstmonceux Castle - Jim March of The Medieval Siege Society describes the 2005 story line.

It is mid afternoon in the summer of 1471, and the heat haze rises over the fairy-tale setting of Herstmonceux Castle on the southern coast of England. Amongst the woods outside the massive limestone walls, a tented village has sprung up in the last few days. This is no ordinary collection of travellers laying up for the night. We are in the middle of a civil war, the English civil war, and as events unfold, it is easy to draw parallels between this conflict and civil wars of more modern times. To a point: what we are about to see is for entertainment purposes only.