Pike And Shot Tour & Event Company

     Pirate Festival

Sunday May 24th  to  Friday May 29th   2009

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This Pirate Festival will run once again at Lulworth Castle, which is situated near Wareham, Dorset. Over this week, the Golden Age of Piracy and Smuggling will be brought back to life for a packed week of Family fun and entertainment. Please take a look at this page, and get in touch by E-Mail for further information. This update is the latest information telling you more about this exciting Event from the Pike And Shot Tour & Event Company. We are busy organizing our 2009 Calendar, and this is to let everyone who has expressed an interest in the “Pirate, Smugglers, Wreckers, Militia and Customs Event” more about what’s on offer:

Event Program

Saturday (May 23^rd)

Set up and preparation day for the Living History areas and fortified encampments. The day will be spent either helping out with the setting up of the "Pirate encampment" that will be provided as part of the large skirmish backdrop. It is hoped to set out areas for Pyrotechnics, and each Group will have it's own Living History area within the Re-enactment area of the Castle Grounds.

We also hope to arrange a "Campaign" type event for participants in and around the local area, with visits to Lulworth Cove and Arish Mell (Local Smuggling Bays) to go and advertise the week long event.

Sunday (May 24^th)

Pirates, Smugglers, Wreckers, and the Revenue Men with the Customs Officers will be clashing throughout the day at various locations throughout the Castle and its Grounds.

10:30 – Site opens to public

All Day – Living History Encampment to explore

11:30 – Tales of Piracy on the high seas and smuggling tour of Lulworth (Castle Room)

12:30 – Demonstration of Musketry from the Militia (Living History Encampments)

13:30 – Talks and demonstrations from different Pirate Groups about the life of Piracy (Living History Encampments)

14:30 – There will be a full firepower display of Ships guns & gunnery practices from one of the largest collections of Blackpowder Cannon in Europe, performed by the Star Gun Company.

15:30 - The combat skirmish with plenty of explosions and gunfire! There will be ample opportunity to see staged fighting routines, and an opportunity to experience lethal hand to hand fighting based on “safe” rules of engagement, between the local militia, customs officers, wreckers, pirates, smugglers and local civilians! (In the prepared skirmish area)

16:00 – The aftermath of battle (Living History Encampments)

17:30 – Site closes to public

Monday (May 25^th)

Pirates, Smugglers, Wreckers, and the Revenue Men with the Customs Officers will be clashing throughout the day at various locations throughout the Castle and its Grounds.

10:30 – Site opens to public

All Day – Living History Encampment to explore

11:30 – Tales of Piracy on the high seas and smuggling tour of Lulworth (Castle Room)

12:30 – Demonstration of Musketry from the Militia (Living History Encampments)

13:30 – Talks and demonstrations from different Pirate Groups about the life of Piracy (Living History Encampments)

14:30 – There will be a full firepower display of Ships guns & gunnery practices from one of the largest collections of Blackpowder Cannon in Europe, performed by the Star Gun Company.

15:30 - The combat skirmish with plenty of explosions and gunfire! There will be ample opportunity to see staged fighting routines, and an opportunity to experience lethal hand to hand fighting based on “safe” rules of engagement, between the local militia, customs officers, wreckers, pirates, smugglers and local civilians! (In the prepared skirmish area)

16:00 – The aftermath of battle (Living History Encampments)

17:30 – Site closes to public

Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday (May 26^th – 29^th)

All participants are welcome to stay on and make a short holiday of your visit. We need people to perform Living History, and hope that participants will take the opportunity to put on “scripted fights” and other displays.

10:30 – Site opens to public

All Day – Living History Encampment to explore

12:00 - Tales of Piracy on the high seas and smuggling tour of Lulworth (Castle Room)

14:30 - There will be a full firepower display of Ships guns & gunnery practices from one of the largest collections of Blackpowder Cannon in Europe, performed by the Star Gun Company.

17:30 – Site closes to public

There will be a full firepower display of Ships guns & gunnery practices from one of the largest collections of Blackpowder Cannon in Europe, performed by the Star Gun Company every day!

Historic Background to Event 

Lulworth Castle is in Dorset, near Wareham. This 17^th Century hunting lodge was the scene of many smuggling deals between local people, sea-farers, and the local Gentry. The difficulty in catching anyone breaking the law was made even more difficult by the Revenue men taking bribes to “look the other way”. Smuggling and piratical activities have been going on in this part of South West England for hundred’s of years, and with this in mind we want to create an Event that captures the excitement of the past, focussing on the time period 1650 – 1770.

The nearest Hostelry – “The Weld Arms” – was a well known haunt of these “traders”, which in times past had an ongoing investigation into the dealings of its Landlord – one Richard Champ, as late as 1770. This pub will be welcoming all event visitors during the week of Events with Real Ales, Good Food - Restaurant booking advisable. Lulworth Cove is located at the western end of the isle of Purbeck. The cove has been described as the most beautiful in Britain, and makes an almost perfect circle, surrounded on all sides by cliffs. This extremely sheltered bay could therefore be used in virtually all weathers, and was of course the ideal spot for Smugglers and Pirates to meet and trade.

The historical facts for our large skirmish on both Sunday and Monday are from this recorded incident:

“The smugglers were known to sink tubs (Barrels) out of sight in the water from inquisitive Revenue men. One, a hogshead of French red wine, bobbed up to the surface, and was promptly seized, though it proved to be 'poor thin stuff that will not keep'. A couple of years later, nearly a dozen smugglers were stopped near the cove as they tried to run wine and brandy in the early hours of a summer's morning. They fought like demons with flails, swords and clubs, and when it looked like they'd lose the cargo; the smugglers staved in some of the barrels, and made off with the remainder. The battle between smugglers and revenue men went on for some twelve hours, and attracted people from four parishes, who ran off with the abandoned barrels.” The Lulworth men evidently took no chances of being identified by the local customs authorities: on a tombstone in Weymouth's Bury Street cemetery there is the following inscription:

“Sacred to the memory of Lieut Thos Edward Knight, RN, of Folkestone, Kent, Aged 42, who in the execution of his duty as Chief Officer of the Coastguard was wantonly attacked by a body of smugglers near Lulworth, by whom after being unmercifully beaten he was thrown over the cliff near Durdle Door from the effects of which he died the following day.”

In the early years of the 18th century the local venturer at Lulworth was one Charles Weeks, who lived at Winfrith, and who had developed a particularly shrewd way of defrauding the revenue. He would buy seized goods at legitimate auctions, and mix in the smuggled article for onward shipment, often to London. When an officer challenged Weeks to produce receipts showing that duty had been paid, Weeks could often do so. When he couldn't, he would threaten the officer with litigation; on the pittance paid by the government, no customs officer could afford a legal action, so the smuggler escaped. Smugglers are said to have stored contraband in a cave at the most easterly point of Mupe Bay, known as Arish Mell. In the 18^th Century, the same area used to be accessed by following the coast from Lulworth, and by descending the cliff the moment the bay is reached. The cave is at the foot of the precipice, at a spot where a little channel has been cleared between the boulders for a boat to land.

In 2007 a new access path across the M.o.D. Ranges was opened so it could be reached ...however, please beware of military hardware, and follow the signs for restricted access!

See you at Lulworth on May 24th 2009 with this Pirate Festival, where we hope you will join us once again, & "Get stuck into History"

  (Pictures "Pat" Patrick)

(Extracts used from website at http://www.smuggling.co.uk/index.html)

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