English Civil War Troopers Armour in Maidstone Museum, Kent

Troopers armour of the English Civil War, on display in Maidstone Museum in Kent. The armour bears the commonwealth mark of the Tower of London. This armour would of course been worn over a tough buff coat that would have also provided some protection against sword blows.

The English Civil War section in the museum, sadly is limited to one cabinet and a brief description of the battle of Maidstone which I will relate soon accompanied with photo's of the town. The painting in the background is of Lady Ann Brockman 1600-1660 wife of Sir William Brockman staunch royalist and Sherriff of Kent in 1643. The painting dates from around 1642. The displays in this section of the room are dated & contained in cabinets which annoyingly effect the quality of the photographs with 'reflection issues'

Queen's own Royal West Kent Regiment Museum & Help for Heroes Fundraising

One of Kent's Military Museums is celebrating its 50th year of being open to the public this year. A few years ago the last CO & curator died and the collection being based in Maidstone Museum was handed over to the Museum & Borough Council to run & administer. In the current day and age of Budget cuts & credit crunch threats to the public sector this could be a worry. However Maidstone Museum won a bid from the Heritage Lottery fund to expand its display area which was desperatly needed, as although it is the Museum of Maidstone it also in all reality  the 'Kent County Museum' with collections from all over Kent also given display space ' from Dinosaurs to the best Japanese collection outside of London'!

While the redevelopment of the museum will take place over the next couple of years and affect availability and display of some material, the West Kent's room in the museum will remain open and indeed much is planned to celebrate the regiments history & the military history of Maidstone.

Now as my scanner isn't coping with the leaflet very well I will post & advertise each of the events on this blog and will look into redesigning this blog to enable anyone to access information on Kent Military Museums & military sites of interest. I wil probably start a seperate Kent Military History blog and link from Victory V & use it to provide information for visitors to the County.

Also on the museum 'breaking news' page is the following article :
Somme to Staplehurst Walk

A group of five local men will be undertaking the challenge of walking approximately 150 miles from the Somme in France back to Staplehurst in Kent to raise money for the Help the Heroes Charity. This event is registered with the Help for Heroes charity and will take place between 10th April to 17th April 2010. One of the men taking part is a descendant of Thomas Harris whose Victoria Cross medal is on display in the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regimental Museum. The men taking part themselves have 29 years service with The 2nd Battalion, the Queens Regiment.

The event is listed on the Help for Heroes website in the national events/Kent section. Reading this link made me aware what everyone is doing for the charity perhaps us Bloggers should think about some kind of blogging event .....perhaps a sponsored blog day where people who read our articles donate via Just Giving towards the Charity? Thoughts??

If you would like to make a contribution by sponsoring the Somme to Staplehurst event, then this can be done by the Just Giving website.

English Civil War Armour Westgate Towers Canterbury - 'For God, King Charles & Kent'

Westgate Tower Canterbury famous in its own right for being the first defensive structure built (1380)specifically for defence with guns has an interesting collection of ECW armour on the walls of the main chamber. now as the museum is threatened with closure next year due to Canterbury City Council Budget cuts I thought I should post some pictures....just in case!

Canterbury was occupied by Parliamentary forces soon after the outbreak of the Civil War in August 1642. The town muskets were repaired, the city defences strengthened and new supplies of gunpowder bought.

Colonel Sandy's troops were deployed in the Cathedral, despoiling images, monuments and service books. Then encouraged by Richard Culmer - a local churchman known as Blue Dick - they fetched poles to attack the stained glass.

'Rattling down Becket's glassy bones'

Real fighting broke out on Christmas Day 1647 when the mayor tried to enforce Parliament's ban on the celebration of Christmas - along with other superstitous festivals. A thousand citizens rioted on the streets in the Royalist cause.

Parliament sent General Fairfax with 3000 troops to canterbury, where they broke down the gates and breached the city walls in a show of strength to restore order.

On the King's execution in 1649, the City duly replaced the Royal arms with those of the Commonwealth in the Guild Hall and dined with Oliver Cromwell  on his visit in 1651.  (text from museum display, Westgate Towers)

Three-quarter suit of armour c.1640

'Lobster-tail' helmet

Gorget (neck guard)

Cuirass (back & breast plates)

Spaulders (armpieces)

Tassetts (upper leg guards)

Civil War armour

Steel helmet, breastplate, and back plate worn in the 1640's by a light cavalry trooper.

The helmet is of high quality workmanship with a fully articulated neck guard - a 'lobster tail'. The breastplate is the heavy type known as 'siege-weight' , which gave extra protection to the wearer.

Flintlock Musket

Used in Canterbury in the Civil War Period

Wooden stock renewed in the 1680's, as was quite common

The letter 'C' stamped on the stock stands for canterbury City armoury

 

Save Canterbury Museums Campaign

Sheerness Centre Bastion Battery

The above photo was taken last weekend when we visited Sheppey for the annual 'World Walking the Plank' contest!! at Queenborough.



The centre Bastion Battery was developed as part of the fortifications at Sheerness to protect the naval Port and entrance to the Medway from 1825 and was updated until WW2 finally being abandoned in 1956.



Have a look at the superb and fascinating website 'Underground Kent' for better photo's and other areas of Sheerness Fort which is sadly not open to the public. Also Wars of Louis Quatorze for more details on Sheerness and Queenborough and the fortifications at the time of the Dutch raid in 1667.