anywhere near me where I can see medieval crossbow?

Hi All,

Does anyone out there know the nearest places to Cardiff that display medieval crossbows - real or replica.  BTW I think like a Brit when it comes to travel, Leeds and London are too far .....I guess within 50miles would be a rough parameter.

Cheers

Stuck

Here's a list of Welsh museums:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_museums_in_Wales

There is apparently a medieval rampart style crossbow at Caerphilly castle...


The Welsh were longbow men.   Well relatively long.  The Welsh bows were shorter than the ELB, but just as effective militarily.

Hi kenh. There is a rampart type bow at Caerphilly and thanks for the list of museums too. The Caerphilly bow is not quite the nobleman's sporting bow I would like to get my grubby mits on,sorry I mean examine closely, but watching the siege machines being fired is good fun.
Stuck

As an Ex-Brit Stuck,I used to think like that,until I came to Northern Alberta.Tim Horton's is an extremely popular Canadian coffee and donut shop.I pass on the donuts(North American spelling)but the breakfast biscuit is good.I usually pay a visit several times a month,and often see a couple of cops  there(the rumour that cops are addicted to doughnuts is true!)the closest one to me, is a 120 mile round trip.
This has absolutely nothing to do with Medieval crossbows,but Oh well..............
                                                           Hermit.

Weird init (UK spelling tee-hee), I worked in Lennox Ma one summer and popping into town (Boston) was routine - 130 miles each way, but now 50 miles is a big day out and a trip to London (150m) is a holiday.  Even I don't understand me!  However, I did some phoning around this pm and spoke to a very nice curator in the Welsh Museum of Country Life (aka St Fagans museum)  - distance 8 miles - and they have some early medieval hunting crossbows in the collection (not on display) I can pop down and have a good look at.  Will check out photo permissions when I go there next week.

Stuck

St. Fagans?  It's a small world.  My late wife studied Welsh Folklore at St. Fagans and dearly loved the place and all the staff.  Give 'em a wave for me as you pass by!  Geezer.

If there is 'no photos' just go at tea time and dither until alone

Yeh, no, can't do that cos the curator is pulling them out of the collection stores , there are no crossbows on display partly cos the gallery is closed for refurbishment, mostly cos the museum is about daily life for ordinary folk

Stuck, 

Even if this "medieval" crossbow turns out to be from the 18th C it will be interesting to look at.  

Get pics if you can.

Mac

One of the first 'period' crossbows I got to examine turned out to be an 18th century Johann Haenish (or Harnish... marked I G H) crossbow, from the famous Haenish family of Dresden.  Though it was indeed much later than the 16th century date I initially took it for, I learned a lot about stresses and detail that has stood me in good stead.  So yeah, if you find a good 18th century bow, take the time to do a thorough examination.  Geezer

Well, funny how life gets in the way.  I forgot the kids were off school for Easter when I arrange the museum trip, but anyway we all three went to see the crossbow collection - the kids were brilliant, but scooping everyone out of the door led to my forgetting the batteries for the camera!  Apologies for the quality of the snaps which you can see at my flickr feed, here.  but the ipod was all I had that worked.

The entire Welsh museums collection, with the possible exception of a 'bow belonging to Lloyd George which MAY exist in a musum in north wales, numbers three 18th and 19th century (?) bows.  A very nice Johnson Wigan ball-throwing bow and a Flemish target bow of unknown date, presumed mid 18th century- I included several pictures of the trigger mechanism for anyone who may be interested.

There was also a bit of a mystery, described as an English arrow-throwing crossbow, very long and slender with a brass nut and wide, shallow steel prod (the curator feels this is a replacement), the bindings are rotted away long ago (unless the irons are missing) and the stock was at one time badly chewed by wood worm.

If anyone wants proper notes on any of these I will arrange another visit.

Stuck

Thank you for the pics and report, Stuck!

Mac