Medieval Market Comes To Canterbury | The Canterbury Tales Visitor Attraction, Canterbury, England

Following hot on the heels of the release of this years must see blockbuster movie Robin Hood, The Canterbury Tales will be hosting an authentic and exciting Medieval Market on Saturday 5th June. A collection of stall holders will gather in the churchyard to the rear of the attraction with a variety of fascinating medieval wares and crafts to display and demonstrate including the chance to learn archery skills in our ‘Have a Go’ archery. The market will begin at 11.00am and finish at 4.00pm providing an authentic taste of daily life in the medieval era, offering fun demonstrations and games to suit all ages.

The market will welcome skilled crafts men and women including a medieval bowmaker and wood turner, a traditional potter who will be using clay to make vessels of the period offering visitors the chance to turn their hand, with other stalls selling wares such as beeswax candles and balms, natural dyes, antlers, leather pouches, ochres and earth pigments. Julia Baxter will be on hand to demonstrate the beautiful and colourful world of medieval calligraphy with visitors able to have their names or messages handwritten in beautiful coloured inks. For the younger visitor, Tomfoolerie the jester will be selling hand made wooden toys from the period; daggers, swords, longswords, shields and helmets which were originally developed for combat and stunt students!

Commenting, Steve Beer manager of the Canterbury Tales attraction said, “This years must see blockbuster movie is Robin Hood so medieval times are very firmly in the public eye at the moment. The Medieval Market we are putting on will be like stepping back in time and will give visitors a unique insight to a bygone era. With costumed characters and medieval music provided by ‘Rough Musicke’ our Medieval Market is themed to have everything from the time, with children able to put on costumes from medieval times before trying their hand at archery themselves! Who knows, we may even discover a Robin Hood of our own! For our older visitor we’ll be selling our famous mead whilst children can carry on learning with juggling skills, medieval board games and other activities on all on offer.”

At noon on the day, The Canterbury Tales will be announcing the winner of their recent look-a-like competition to try and find a modern day pilgrim who could be one of the characters from Chaucer’s legendary Tales, with the winner set to pocket £250, which in the 14th Century would have made them a millionaire!!

As well as a visit to the medieval market, no visit to The Canterbury Tales would be complete without going in to the attraction itself. The attraction is an award winning visitor attraction giving visitors the opportunity to experience the sights, smells and sounds of the era. Visitors are taken back to Medieval England to join Chaucers’s band of pilgrims as they make their way from the Tabard Inn in London to the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.