The Sandwich Medieval Centre
Sandwich in Kent, although now about 2 miles from the sea, was during the Middle Ages one of the most important ports of England and a founding member of the Cinque Ports. It was a busy seaport for ships and troops crossing the English Channel and then sailing on return to London, as well as a mustering base for the 100 years war. There are still many remaining medieval and Tudor buildings in Sandwich such as the Barbican and Fisher Gates, and Saint Peter’s, Saint Clement’s and Saint Mary’s churches, along with original copies of the Magna Carta and Charter of the Forest held at the Sandwich Guildhall Museum.
The Sandwich Medieval Trust is a “Charitable Incorporated Organisation” formed with the objective of educating the public about the late medieval period (approximately 1330 to 1480), with a particular focus on Sandwich’s heritage. The base for the trust’s activities is the Sandwich Medieval Centre, a wooden boatyard building, built on the slipway by the Quay in 2016 using many original medieval techniques to provide a living museum.
The Nicholas project
Many of the vessels moored in the bustling port would have been cogs; single masted vessels built to be merchant ships that could easily be converted into fighting ships during war by the addition of fore and stern castles. Our major project at the centre is to create the “Nicholas” a faithful replica of a medium sized cog using a seaworthy, solid wooden hulled Norwegian trawler built with traditional methods in the 1950s, currently moored on the river next to the centre.
The wood for the Nicholas is worked by hand at the centre, amongst many items other produced for the ship so far including the windlass, capstan and one of the anchors with the second anchor, and the fore and stern castles and mast to be completed in the future. There is a forge in the centre which is used to produce the ironwork needed on board including nails, the metal components for the windlass, capstan and the anchors.
The Forge at the Centre
The forge is also used for half and full day blacksmith workshops where members of the public can try their hand at the craft using traditional methods and take away something they handcrafted themselves. The centre also has a medieval style kitchen with bread oven which is used for classes in making the different types of bread of the period, from fine white or manchet bread using stone ground sieved wheat flour, honey, beer and beer barm to lower class unleavened bread using courser ground flour with various grains and ground peas and beans.
The kitchen is used in a mead making class where you can create 7 or 8 pints of mead to take home! The Sandwich Medieval Trust also offers many other half and full day courses in other crafts from the Middle Ages including a medieval calligraphy course using quill and ink, and a course in how to write illuminated letters from an initial tracing, through adding gold leaf to the final colour painting. There are courses in egg tempera painting using ground colours and egg yolk, medieval print making using the centre’s replica printing press and medieval book binding. For anyone interested in weaving there is a fingerloop braiding class where you can learn to make purse strings, clothes laces and friendship bracelets, a tablet weaving workshop where you will learn the basic technique of tablet rotation in order to produce decorative ‘threaded-in’ braids, and an introduction to corn weaving where you can learn to make simple plaits for harvest favours.
The centre has an expanding selection of medieval board, dice and card games which are proving to be very popular with all ages of the public. Board games such as Three Men’s Morris, Fox and Geese, Alquerque, Seega, etc are available to play on boards made from cloth or leather or carved in to specially made table tops.
Sandwich has a variety of events throughout the year including special displays, craft fares, visits from specialists such as a barber surgeon, medieval martial arts teachers, stone masons and other craftspeople. There was an archery display on the Sandwich Butts in 2022 organised by the trust and the medieval section of Sandwich’s Le Weekend festival takes place on the adjacent plot of ground where you can often catch the centre’s own medieval band “Rough Musicke”.
If you’d like more information on the centre and its courses please visit the website by clicking here: Sandwich Medieval Trust.
Written by Andrew Hall
The Centre is also looking for enthusiastic and friendly volunteers to join the team to help with all kinds of things, from meeting and greeting visitors to repairing the deck of the Nicholas. Full training available.
For more details visit the centre or email: info@sandwichmedieval.org or telephone: 01304 619439