IT'S difficult to really get the feeling of an English Civil War battle when the audience outnumber the participants.

Not that the Sealed Knot Society would have any complaints about the size of the crowd for last Sunday's re-creation of The Battle of Ripple and it more than made up for in noise what it lacked in numbers.

The 200 or so soldiers in period costume looked a little lost on the wide open spaces of the field where the real battle took place in 1643. The field then would have been divided into smaller hedged enclosures, which would have made the going difficult for the Royalists' cavalry.

Only five horses were involved on Sunday, but the single artillery piece made up for in volume what it lacked in size and the pike pushes were undertaken with real enthusiasm.