The Marquess of Winchesters regiment | English Civil War Reenacting

The Regiment Today

The regiment today has been reenacting the English Civil War for about 35 years and today has around 130 members, we have a goal of recreating a full sized English Civil war company of Foote as shown by the drill book of William Barriffe with the correct number Pikemen, Musketeers, Officers, sergeants and drummers and using the correct commands for manoeuvring of the company.

The Marquess of Winchesters Regiment in the 17th was based at Basing House in Hampshire and it never took part in any of the major English civil war battles, though elements of the garrison took part in many smaller engagements throughout the war in and around Basing House. So because the regiment was never a field regiment we have a dual role and that is to “ Create a well equipped company of red coated Foote of the Oxford Army of 1643”

We have numerous reenactment events around the country catering for all aspects of reenacting the 17th century from living histories to small skirmishes right up to large battles with the rest of the society. Members aren’t expected to attend all of the events as this is unfair to expect everyone to be at all events as home life, family and personal circumstances make it so that there will be some events members can’t attend and we understand that. Thogh we prioritise special events for a good turnout such like the Festival of History hosted by EH or large multi – period events hosted by Eventplan. These events usually suit our style of combat and allow us to do what we do best using pike, musket and artillery in a 17C military fashion.

This is not just a military hobby either, we have a growing number of Living history enthusiasts within the regiment. These members add a significant and important aspect to our displays and they are valued just as much as any other member. Reenacting the social side of the period we feel is just as important as the military aspects and gives us a balance to our presentations. We put as much care, effort and research into these displays as our military presentations and have recently embarked on a process to remove the 20th Century "Duck blue" canvas tents from our living history displays and to replace these tents made from a reproduction 17th C material known as "Flax Canvas". We hope to complete the change before 2013 and thus have an enhanced display our members and customers who hire us will value.

Our ethos is that we endeavour to give the best recreation of the military and social aspects of the period which our numbers and research allows. In regards to combat the Marquess of Winchesters regiment is one of the very, very few groups who call themselves "Point Only". What this means is that in regards to our pike engagements we fight in a manner described in these primary sources, we look to give a display of pike combat which shows the effectiveness of the weapon by actually pointing it at our enemy and re-enact out the engagement between opposing pike divisions. Other groups both large and small use a method known as "press" this means that the 16ft pike are held upright and the 2 opposing blocks engage each other in a contest to push the other block over, pictures of this type of engagement can be found all over the web and we hope show how silly and that is not a very authentic way of portraying the use of the pike in the 17th century.

Not forgetting our musketeers who follow a researched musket & formation drills and together with the our pike division manoeuvring to 17th C commands and drums, the regiment has a pride that it considers itself as one of the best military ECW reenactment groups in the UK

A typical scene at a reenactment living history event hosted by the Marquess of Winchesters Regiment Winchesters have pride in the fact that we work hard to reenact a good unit of foot of the period and that we have a lot of fun on and off the battle/drill field. It’s not all work and no play as we have a very good social atmosphere within the regiment, members often meet between events maintaining that “family” atmosphere we have. I say family? Yes we have a large number of children within the regiment, some have been with us so long they are now old enough to take part on the battlefield!

Our reenacting standards, which I hope you see from the pictures on this website are high, standards we work hard to maintain. We also work hard to ensure the membership has fun. Once a year we have a regimental BBQ at an event usually this co-insides with a “priority event” and a banquet in the off season, this allows us time to get together without having to worry about the time table of a weekend muster.

I hope this website will show you that you don’t need to have a vast knowledge of 17C life to take part in this hobby of English Civil War reenacting, so come along and try being a musketeer, pikemen, artillery crew or civilian for a weekend, all you need is a tent, some food, an open mind and I’m sure with have a good time!

Interested in taking part and joining our fellow re-enactors? follow this link - Joining and taking part

The Marquess Of Winchester's Regiment

English Civil War Re-enacting

The Regiment Today