Reblogged from Medieval Wanderings:
Writing about Easter in the Middle Ages has got me thinking about village life back then. It’s harder to pin down the lives of ordinary medieval people because they left little of themselves behind. I’ve walked over a fair few settlement earthworks in my time, those spectral lumps and bumps in the land, but the other day I got to wander around a very special place: a living medieval village. So come with me on a wander around the enchanting homes and buildings of a real community from the Middle Ages.
Welcome to Cosmeston Medieval Village in South Wales, the remains of which were discovered in the late 1970s during the construction of the country park in which it now stands. Named after the Costentin family from northern France, this was part of the Anglo-Welsh border lands partitioned out after the Norman Conquest to keep the unruly Welsh in check. During the 1980s a thorough archaeological investigation was undertaken, revealing an entire lost community. Buildings emerged and everyday artefacts surfaced such as a fishhook, a jug and a penny from the reign of Edward 1st. So it was decided to reconstruct the buildings, keeping each on its original site, with future excavations aiming to explore the manor house, the dovecot and the field systems around the settlement. In the meantime it’s open to visitors, and occasionally the buildings are used by costumed re-enactors for their original purposes. So now it’s time to turn off your mobile phone, leave your modern day worries behind, and imagine walking along with me as we go through the gates to Cosmeston and begin our journey back in time.
Continue reading at Medieval Wanderings
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
Many thanks for this, Sue! I didn’t get a notification that you’d reblogged Cosmeston until Stuart just told me and I started getting a welcome new flow of ‘likes’ – it seems that WordPress isn’t always on the ball. I very much appreciate it, anyway, especially as I won’t get a chance to do a new post this weekend – I’m up to my ears doing my final, scary module assignment due in next week, so won’t be able to post again until after it’s done and I can breathe again. Many thanks – I owe you a goblet of mead! 😀
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One of these days, we’ll have to meet up and I’ll take you up on that 😉
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I’d love that, and I’m more than happy to oblige with the mead! Thanks again, Sue. -D
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We’ll sort that out when we have time 😉
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I’d like that, Sue. In the meantime – Cheers! 😉
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*hic!* 😉
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😀
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I loved this when I reblogged it and I still love it!
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I once got insanely drunk on mead at a castle (forgot the name) in Ireland. When they learned it was our honeymoon, they just kept feeding us mead and I kept drinking it. I remember singing loudly as Garry tried to get us back to the B&B and he was telling me to please shut up because it was (for him) the wrong side of the road. I thought he should be singing too. It was our HONEYMOON, after all. I remember I fell out of bed sometime during the night, but I didn’t even care.
Mead. It’s stronger than it tastes!
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Yes…that’s the problem with mead 😉
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It REALLY tasted good. And I’m NOT a drinker. Maybe that makes me even more sensitive to things that don’t taste like booze, but boy, that did me in. I think it was the ONLY time Garry had to stay sober so we could get home alive!
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We have a penchant for mead… and the stuff just slides down so easily… 😉
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Yes, it really does. Garry was probably saved from it because he isn’t fond of sweet stuff. But alas, I am.
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We aren’t either as a rule… but mead doesn’t count 😉
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