Horrible Histories, the Magna Carta song

If you haven't seen it yet, you MUST pop over to YouTube to see this delightful Horrible Histories take on Magna Carta and its importance through history.

Lego King John, on display as part of Trowbridge Museum's Magna Carta-Game of Barons exhibition

Magna Carta song

Magna Carta Festival Archery day at Trowbridge Museum

On June 6th 10.30-1.00 and 2.00-3.30, Richard and Philip Head, Master Bowyers (and Fletchers) will be demonstrating at Trowbridge Museum. A bowyer makes bows and a fletcher, arrows. These ancient skills have been resurrected to make weapons for use in films, TV, museums, live action role-play (LARP) and re-enactment as well as archery competitions and sporting events.

Richard Head in his workshop, holding a strung longbow he has crafted

Philip Head, receiving his silver award. He will be at Trowbridge Museum on June 6th as part of our Magna Carta festival

Richard Head in Tudor costume pulling one of his longbows

To find out more about the craft of making longbows and arrows, or to view the online shop, visit http://www.english-longbow.co.uk.

Magna Carta for kids

With its emphasis on ancient laws, the rights of the Church and the laity, Magna Carta is a bit of a hard nut to crack for children. So what can go into Trowbridge Museum's exhibition that will be child-friendly?
One of the answers the Assistant Curator came up with was...Lego.
Yes, Lego.

Laying out a medieval formal garden in Lego

First attempt at a medieval garden

Fortunately, Trowbridge Museum has a volunteer who is a Lego expert. He has been rail-roaded into recreating a medieval rural scene, rather loosely based on King John's acceptance of Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215. It is also fortunate that Lego produced a set of construction toys called Knights' Kingdom, a good source of minifigures to play the part of King John's disloyal barons.

Blacksmith's forge and water wheel

It just so happened that the Assistant Curator had bought a Knights' Kingdom set featuring a blacksmith (and a chicken. Why a chicken? Apparently this is quite a rare Lego piece), so this can fit into the background. There is also a castle planned for the backdrop, just a little one.

Medieval garden from above

Work is now underway to construct some kind of temporary building for Lego King John to sit in as he affixes his seal to Magna Carta. Not as easy as one might think, and there are quite a few barons to fit in, not to mention, horses, retinues, tents, interested peasants...

King John NOT signing Magna Carta-he accepted it by attaching the Royal Seal

Messing about with Medieval Food for the Magna Carta exhibition preview

Many medieval recipes begin with instructions such as "first skin your rabbit" or "first pluck your goose". They go on to inform cooks to "put it to the fire till it be done". The manuscripts obviously say nothing of degrees Celsius, frequently omit suggested weights of ingredients and assume that the medieval cook already has considerable knowledge of their subject and will be able to cook pretty much by instinct.

Fortunately one has access to the splendid publication above in which some American cooks have experimented with the recipes as they were written down and translated the cooking instructions into something modern and workable.

Staff at Trowbridge Museum have gamely decided to have a go at making some medieval fare to serve to their guests at the opening of the Magna Carta exhibition on February 28th. The Assistant Curator's almond cakes have already proved quite a hit with her colleagues!

First- stale some bread!

Do not do as I did, and put the crusts in a warm oven to speed up the "staling" process. You may then find yourself struggling to find a means of grinding them into crumbs.

As you can see, I tried a 2014 processor, a 1970s one and finally a wooden pestle and mortar (such as a medieval cook would have used). The first two worked to a degree but still left lumps.

Fortunately someone had left a hammer out on the kitchen table...

Secondly, prepare your ground almonds. This does not work well if the almonds are in their skins, so I decided to have a go at "Blanching" them- or what I thought constituted blanching. I immersed them in very hot water a couple of times, cooled them down and found that the skins had split enough for me to be able to peel them off.
You will discover that you are left with very slimy almonds, so a spot of time in a warm oven will help.
DO NOT then put the almonds in a plastic container and leave them out for a couple of days before you get around to dealing with them. Moulds seem to find them extremely nutritious. I promise  I removed all the mouldy ones before proceeding with the recipe.

Blanched almonds drying- it's all a bit of a faff if I'm honest, but I wanted to be as authentic as possible...
Once hard and dry, the almonds can be very successfully ground up in a modern day kitchen appliance (or a pestle and mortar if you have time on your hands).

Which brings me to the issue of the Magna Carta Tea Towel.

Here is Andy Milroy, Trowbridge's own Mr Magna Carta, modelling the new tea towel produced especially to celebrate the town's role in the creation of Magna Carta.

Here am I, having turned the tea towel into a very handy apron, trying to find the best way of grinding almonds (I don't want to have to revert to the hammer again).
Anyway, you just mix up the almonds and breadcrumbs with sugar and beaten egg and use the mixture to make fritters in a shallow frying pan. They can be deep fried if preferred, but should be patted dry and sprinkled with sugar before consumption.
A medieval almond cake looks like this-

- and let me assure you that they are delicious.
Another very good series of books for historical recipes are those produced by English Heritage.

Hector Cole, the skilled blacksmith whose work will feature in our Magna Carta exhibition, has just received an M.B.E. in the Queen's New Year Honours list. We are absolutely delighted for Hector and feel even more privileged that we will be able to display some of his work this spring!

STOP PRESS! STOP PRESS!
Trowbridge Museum has just had a visit from the President of the Magna Carta Barons Association. He seemed particularly amused at the idea of us recreating the setting for the sealing of the Magna Carta in Lego. If anyone from the company sees this blog, we could really use a donation of grey bricks...

Magna Carta- Game of Barons

What links a powerful medieval baron, a Bad King, a Lego castle and two local craftsmen? 

Not sure? Well, it's Trowbridge Museum's 

exhibition on Magna Carta, 

February 28th to July 25th 

2015.

To find out how we go about putting together a major exhibition like this, just follow this blog and witness the trials and torments of an Assistant Curator and her colleagues...

Blacksmith Hector Cole (as seen on TV!) pumping the bellows at his forge in Little Somerford, Wiltshire.
http://www.evado.co.uk/Hector%20Cole/index.html


Some of Hector's fantastic pieces will be on display for the duration of the exhibition, as part of the Museum's aim to bring the Magna Carta story to life.

So, how does a museum go about re-creating the feel of the early Thirteenth Century? Watch this space!

The Education Officer and a volunteer,

pondering on the amount of damage a

battleaxe could do to their enemies...