Regia Anglorum

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Regia Anglorum, a Latin phrase meaning Kingdoms of the English People, asks its members to do something unusual: to live, as completely as possible, as though the Norman Conquest had not yet happened. Founded in 1986 by members who had previously belonged to The Norse Film and Pageant Society, Regia has grown into one of the largest Early Middle Ages reenactment societies in the world. Its scope runs from the age of Alfred the Great through to the reign of Richard the Lionheart. In that span of centuries, it covers Anglo-Saxon, Viking, Norman, and British living history.

  The organisation draws on a large British membership and operates as an unincorporated association. It has appeared on television programmes including Time Team, A History of Britain, and Michael Wood on Beowulf. What makes Regia distinctive is not merely its size or its screen appearances, but a commitment to physical reconstruction that has produced, on three acres of freehold land in Kent, a full-scale replica of a defended medieval settlement.

• 2. The Wychurst Project

  ›

  On three acres of freehold land in Kent, situated in woodland near the Wildwood Discovery Park roughly sixty miles from Central London and close to Canterbury, Regia Anglorum built something that exists nowhere else in Britain. The site is called Wychurst, an Anglo-Saxon name meaning the village in the wood. What stands there is a full-scale replica of a defended manorial burgh, complete with a flooded ring ditch and a bank surmounted by two hundred and twenty metres of palisade enclosing one acre of land.

  At the centre of the burgh is a Longhall measuring sixty feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty feet tall. That is approximately twenty by ten by ten metres. Regia says this is by far the largest building of its kind in Britain. The primary purpose of the site, according to the organisation, is to allow members to experience the lifestyle of the period in a more complete way than was previously possible. The site also opens for public visits on special occasions and serves as a venue for school visits, connecting Wychurst to a broader educational mission the organisation carries out across Britain.

• 3. A Fleet of Seven Vessels

  ›

  Regia Anglorum currently owns seven vessels, and the range of their construction tells a story about how the organisation approaches its work on the water. The largest, a fifty-foot vessel, is no longer sea-worthy. Three similar hulls, each measuring forty-seven feet by nine feet in the beam and drawing about three feet of water, are suitable for both inland waterways and coastal sea use.

  A thirty-five-foot wooden replica sees constant use by members at events and in film work. Two twenty-foot smallcraft round out the fleet: one is a generic shape suited to European waters, and the other is a replica of the Gokstad Faering, the small rowing boat associated with the famous Norwegian ship burial. Both smaller craft see regular use at events across the United Kingdom throughout the year. These vessels have appeared in major productions including Game of Thrones and Vikings, placing early medieval watercraft before audiences who may never have encountered their original historical context.

• 4. Living History and Craft

  ›

  Living history encampments are a central feature of most Regia Anglorum events. Members erect a range of tented structures and demonstrate crafts and everyday activities within their historical setting. This is not a passive display: the organisation operates a National Training Scheme to ensure both authenticity and safety at reenactment events.

  Participation in major national events, including the annual Battle of Hastings reenactment, sits alongside the craft demonstrations. Regia also maintains a team of horse riders known as The Radfolc. The combination of mounted riders, shipboard demonstrations, and craft encampments gives the society a range of capabilities that individual reenactors working alone could not replicate.

• 5. On Screen and In Schools

  ›

  Members of Regia Anglorum have appeared as extras in hundreds of separate film and television works. The list spans a considerable range: from National Geographic's series about the Staffordshire Hoard and Michael Wood's Beowulf to Blood of the Vikings, 1066: The Battle for Middle Earth, and six separate appearances on Time Team. The children's programme Blue Peter has featured Regia members on four occasions, and members have also appeared in adverts and music videos.

  On the educational side, Regia provides facilities for school visits at many of its events and maintains teams and individuals who offer a school visitor service. Their school work takes place primarily within Key Stage 2 under the Invaders topic, though the Battle of Hastings theme can extend into the beginning of Key Stage 3. The society funds all of this activity primarily through membership and event fees, meaning its institutional relationships carry real weight: Regia Anglorum is an Associate Sponsor of the British Museum, a founder member of the National Association of Re-enactment Societies, and a founder member of The Battlefields Trust.