John Hughes at Towergate. He goes to some of the markets and is familiar with entertainers, reenactors, etc...

As soon as you drill the touch hole you create something that can be fired and as such it becomes a firearm. Depending upon the size it will either be under a shotgun licence or a firearm licence. In both cases if you drill the touch hole without the supervision of a registered firearms dealer you a...

What Tod said. There is no guidance from the SK about style or leather. Any specifics will be down to an individual regiment. I was at Chester at the August bank holiday and there are people who have been members for years and are not using authentic shoes. It is getting better but this still needs ...

English Heritage operate the Bishops Palace but the rest of the market at Lincoln is operated by the Council. It depends what you are thinking of. There are tens of thousands of people at any one time. Last time I was told figures in the region of 120k over the 4 days but this may have changed. As a...

We have traded there and last did it in 2012. We did not trade last year and are not trading this year. The market is on from Thursday afternoon to Sunday evening. You will have thousands of members of the public. (The first year they did it in the bishops palace the custodian got about 8,000, this ...

I don't wish to be negative but realistic. The comments below are not just in relation to an event in Tewkesbury but generally for winter markets. If it goes ahead I wish you all the very best but the comments below are based upon my feelings about the increase in markets generally. And I appreciate...

Hi Andy, Leg ties just below the knee work fine. We have thought about using clothing hooks sewen to the inside of the britches and then hooked into the hoes as you put your britches on. We havn't tried it but you don't see many clothing hooks in paintings but loads of them are found so they must ha...

Just did a search on ebay and foudn 5 originals. search for hook in antiques / antiquities I'm confident a little more work and you will find several others. So if the originals are common to find they must have been used for something. The other option is that they were used for hanging up hose und...

Tod is quite right in that 1500 is a little early. But you can easily find original examples of clothing hooks from the 16th and 17th century. S few years ago we bought 6 different designs of originals from one trader at one event. They are as common as buttons. So you can obtain original hooks with...

Hi Fiona, NLHF - National Living History Fair ILHF - International Living History Fair TORM - The Original Reenactors Market If you do a google search you should easily find the individual websites. These three fairs each have their own character and are specialist historic markets. They are aimed a...

Not much good with contents (unless you want pewter) but in the day job I'm a building surveyor and we deal with many insurance fires (currently have at least half a dozen on my desk) so if you need help liaising with loss adjusters on the buildings side let me know. Graham work email gcooley@smithe...

We try not to let it get in the way by limiting how many events we trade at. So this year we are trading at 5 events over 12 months. Events where we have tried to be trader and reenactor usually dont work and we end up missing part of the show and it is very hard work.tryign to be in two places at o...

Depends how many you need. For lots and lots say into the dozens I would suggest Two J's. They are at TORM and regulars at events such as Festival of History. Their items are mass produced good value utility knives. For half a dozen to a dozen or so I suggest you talk to 6 of 1. Again a reliable sup...

I can see two markets close together being good for customers. Certainly if I was going to the markets I would go to both and make a really good day of it. So from a customer perspective anythign that reduces the cost is good. From a slightly wider perspective. If you are offering free entry that su...

No connection with the Reiver group at Buitel tower. We can put you in touch with them. Last time we spoke at the markets they were doing more 18th century stuff but they are still around and still active. email me at reiver_trading@btinternet.com or graham.cooley1@btinternet.com and we can pass any...

My 6 year old daughter manages with a replica that was made about 20 years ago. In comprision the length difference would be about the same but the one we have is much lighter as the barrel is plastic and the wood softwood. Having said that she has spent some time practicing since she was 5. In rela...

Try contacting Harvington Hall. Quite close to you and they have their own household.

Graham
www.bagotsregiment.co.uk

We now have TORM to compare with ILHF. And the trading was very similar. No one buying large items of pewter and everyone only buying what they needed and a few Christmas gifts. The buying patterns were what we would have expected at the different markets. The fact that people were not buying larger...

We do relatively few shows, generally about half a dozen over the year. We were significantly down at the ILHF. However, we sell high value luxury pewter items. The cost of tin, the main metal in pewter has quadrupled in the last two to three years and as a result our prices have had to rise signifi...

charis1642, I'm not a customer and don't know anyone connected with Chimera so hopefully this is completely impartial. Those customers who have been asking questions don't know there is a problem. You have said yourself there is no communication. As a result they can't give Chimera any slack because...

We don't trade at many shows but generally things have been quiet for some time. Everyone has tightened their belts and are reducing what they spend. I can't see this changing in the near future. However, if you can hang in there I expect it to gradually pick up over the next couple of years.

Every fayre is different. We sell pewter which tends to be high value luxury (ie non esential) items. As a result we have limited spare stock with us as we are unlikely to sell several of anything. We also get very few orders as most people seem to like to walk away with stuff from us. This weekend ...

They were at Elvaston last weekend up till Saturday pm.

Try Vic James,

Usually makes lots of tents but also makes other stuff including bellows.

Alice, Where abouts in the Country are you? You will probably find it useful to talk to a couple of different groups in additon to visiting some events. There are lots of different types of groups and periods across the country. They all have varying degrees of authenticity but in general they have ...

You are talking about a time when people used horses like we do cars today. Everything was made locally where possible and the smith was an established feature of every town. Every extate of any size would have a forge even if they did not have a smith. I suspect you are going to have a hard time fi...

Have you tried National Market Traders Association? They have an historic traders branch.

If you are looking for buttons you should try Christophus Leather. He has a policy or always having a stock of buttons so he can cope with any order.

This weekend is often the date for TORM. While this may restrict some traders attending (assuming the dates clash), TORM is likely to be at Ryton again which is not far from Kenilworth. Perhaps it would be possible for visitors to attend both markets. Just out of curiosity I thought EH ran Kenilwort...

As long as I have been a member the SK have always had this arrangement. I'm not certain of the historical background but it has always been the case that traders row has been on the plastic site with no access to the public. There are usually a range of traders ranging from those who provide suppor...