What We Do

The House of Bayard are a friendly and family orientated household who portray French troops during the Wars of the Roses. Supporters of Lancaster, these troops were on loan from the King of France to either Margaret of Anjou, wife of King Henry VI, or to Henry Tudor who later became King Henry VII and the first Tudor King.

We mostly portray garrison soldiers of the late 15th Century, and as such have a variety of roles within the group; men at arms, billmen, archers and arbalests. More recently we have been developing a ‘new’ gun block, using pavises. We have several muzzle loading cannons and two bomberdellas! We also have a high standard living history camp, with a bread oven, and demonstrate a variety of crafts of the period.

We can now offer ‘Medieval Food Tasting’ with the added camp of Jane’s Medival Kitchen. For a small addtional fee we can provide a portable camp kitchen that demonstrates a range of medieval cooking techniques. The kitchen is made up of a full cooking range (fire box), clay oven (complete with cart), cooking pots and utensils. Displays of herbs and spices are always included. Our aim was to create opportunities for visitors to knead bread dough, use the butter churn and sample some of the day’s menu, which may include, spit roasted meat, smoked meat, fish of the day, bread/pies from the oven and pottage for the household.

Herstmonceux Medieval Festival Winners of 5 Tents and Over 2016 and 2017 and runners up 2019.

Living History Competition Winners at Loxwood Joust 2018