Gosport Living History Village

[watervole]

 Two weeks ago, my daughter, Lindsey, said she'd found a living history village set in 1642 (the year the Civil War started) in Gosport.  An hour and a quarter's drive away.

WE went early, stayed late. Great place and really knowledgeable volunteers. Some of them know incredibly detailed things about every day life in that era. eg.  One lady makes soap from animal fat and lye (you extract it from wood ash).

Went again two weeks later and Lindsey, me and Oswin all joined.

I want to try their big loom!

This isn't my video, but it gives you  very good feel for the place.

 

Watch on YouTube

 

 

 

 

Comments

[watervole]

I'm hoping to go again in September. Because the village lives eternally in 1642, by the time the autumn comes around the villagers are aware of the risk of war. Parliament has already taken control of the major ports and news of that would certainly have reached Gosport.

Early in the year, it's just rumblings of fallouts between parliament and the king and thus villages can cheerfully dismiss rumours of forthcoming from visiting time travellers. Though they might be concerned about rumours of Papist uprisings in Ireland. There were a lot of wars in Europe at this time (from what I'm reading, this was a very violent period all round...), but they were probably too far away for the villagers to have any interst in.

[igenlode]

Do you know what the original reasoning was behind picking 1642 as the baseline for the reconstruction?

[watervole]

The first two buildings were built by members of the English Civil War Society for a film of some kind.

ONe got badly damaged by fire a year or so later, and a local group adopted them and expanded the village over time.

HEnce the pub being called the 'Phoenix'.

[igenlode]

Ah, that explains picking the war date -- I was thinking it seemed more of a battle re-enactment society choice than one you'd expect for an example of ordinary domestic living...