Christ College pupils where treated to a real hands-on history lesson when they got a taste of what life during the 17th Century was like when Discover History paid a visit.

 

Historical recreation specialists Paul Harding and Helen Lee brought the English Civil War vividly to life with their accounts of the brutal and divisive combat, and the shocking medical procedures of the time.

 

Paul, dressed as a soldier of the period, showed the students authentic pike drills, and let them try on the type of armour that would have been common on both sides of the conflict.
 

 

Helen, in the clothing of a surgeon's assistant, displayed a grisly selection of the medical instruments used at the time, and explained that operations would have been carried without regard to hygiene or anaesthesia.

 

Says Paul: “The pupils have probably had as much training in the use of a pike as a real Pike man would have had in those days. They’ve been very professional!”