From muck to the monarchy - summer at

Time Travellers Go... Thursdays 2 – 23 August 2012 From the highest of the high to the lowest of the low, the roles and lives of fascinating folk from the last 600 years will be explored this summer at Stokesay Castle, near as part of English Heritage’s Time Travelling Summer at the beautifully preserved fortified manor house! Visitors to the castle on four consecutive Thursdays (from 2 – 23 August inclusive) will have a chance to meet a host of characters pulled from history to share their lives and experiences – from members of the royal family, to those who made their living sifting through the sewers of Victorian London in the hope of finding lost coins or jewellery! The season launches Thursday 2 August, with the Time Travellers Go... Knights and Princesses. Turning back the clock to the Middle Ages, a real medieval knight and a princess will hold court within the castle’s precincts, engaging visitors with tales of chivalry and lessons in knightly etiquette, as well as leading new recruits in mock contests and conflicts, from junior jousting to sword battles! The following Thursday’s (9 August) activities are far less glamorous, as the Time Travellers Go... Gruesome. Visitors will meet with the most unpleasant ‘tosher’ – someone who would have waded through stinking sewers to find lost treasures to make ends meet – and meet Simon the Tudor Sailor for tales of slavery and torture on board an Elizabethan ship! “These jobs might seem a million miles away from our lives today, but they are still evident in the language we use. ‘A pile of old tosh’ is used to mean rubbish or nonsense today, but would have originally referred to the sewage that a tosher would have rummaged through,” comments events manager, Charlie Evans. “The same job is likely to have given rise to the phrase ‘where there’s muck, there’s brass’, as any metal found in the sewers could be sold to raise a meagre income.” Visitors can also find out about Myths and Legends on Thursday 16 August, and meet historic heroes and villains on Thursday 23 August. Over the August Bank Holiday weekend (Sunday 26 – Monday 27 August) everyone is invited to join a duo of medieval knights doing battle for the delight of the audiences, and a chance to try on armour and learn some of the skills of battle in Stokesay Castle’s Sword School! Admission to the Time Traveller events at Stokesay Castle is £6.00 for adults, £5.40 for concessions and £3.60 for children, with a family pass (two adults and up to three children) available for £15.60. English Heritage members get in free. There is an additional £1 charge per child (member and non-member) to help fund the Time Travellers activities. Events run from 11.00am to 5.00pm, with the castle itself opening an hour earlier at 10.00am. For more details, please call 01588 672544 or visit www.english-heritage.org.uk/stokesaycastle ENDS For further media information, please contact: Jay Commins – PRO English Heritage () Tel: 0113 251 5698 Mob: 07810 546567 Email: [email protected]