(Photograph) - Pictures by David Mansell
Five hundred primary children from throughout the Home Counties donned period clothing and armour at Mountfitchet Castle, Stansted in Essex to re-enact the attack by King John’s mercenary army on the castle in 1215.
An attacking army of 300 hauled a giant medieval catapult through the streets of Stansted village to hurl missiles at a 200-strong army defending the castle.
The re-enactment was followed by a display by the Medieval Combat Society, clad in chain-mail armour weighing up to 84lbs