Next Performance:
Sat 29th August 2020
3 performances over the Bank Holiday weekend.
The 2010 Axbridge Pageant Festival – a huge historical re-enactment
celebrating 2,000 years of this Somerset town’s rich past was a SELL OUT!
This spectacular historical re-enactment
in the small Mendip
town of Axbridge, near Cheddar. Involves a cast of more than 400 local people, this once-in-a decade
event brings two thousand years of history to life in a unique open-air
costumed drama.
From the Saxon’s to the present day, the Pageant charts the
centuries, celebrations, confrontations and controversial characters
which have shaped Axbridge’s rich past.
The two hour long performances, staged in the town’s medieval square,
span vibrant scenes including King John’s hunting party, the Monmouth
Rebellion, the Elizabethan Charter, the Coming of the Railway and the
impact of the World Wars.
‘Hanging’ Judge Jeffries deals with the Battle of Sedgemoor’s rebel
army, Methodist reformer Hannah More takes the wicked and drunken ways
of townsfolk to task and Glastonbury monk St. Dunstan clashes with
Anglo-Saxon Royalty.
And there are depictions of bygone traditions like the bustling Lady
Day Fairs and barbaric bull-baiting events.
First performed in 1967 to celebrate the opening of a by-pass along the
former Strawberry Line rail track, the Pageant was such a success it
has been held every ten years. It is now an institution & become part of Axbridge's history itself. In 2017 we'll
celebrate our 50th anniversary, but the next pageant will be in 2020.
See our short video, historical media on the cuttings & images & to
see what's
happening, since our most successful pageant ever, our NEWS page
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