Medieval Booker

Medieval festivals in the United Kingdom

8 medieval festivals in the United Kingdom with dates for 2026–2027 — where they happen, when, and how to choose.

This page covers the United Kingdom; nothing in Wales or Northern Ireland has made the list yet, so for now it is England and Scotland. The UK season opens in the dark: Up Helly Aa, a Victorian invention, burns a full-size galley in Lerwick on the last Tuesday of January, and Shetland’s ferries and beds go months ahead. Over February half-term the JORVIK Viking Festival fills York with a free encampment and a warriors’ march. In July Tewkesbury Medieval Festival refights the battle of 1471 on the original field, free; it is a river meadow, so pack boots. The Battle of Hastings Re-enactment is ticketed and comes in mid October at Battle Abbey, which is in Battle, not Hastings.

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8 festivals, upcoming first

October 2026

  • Battle of Hastings Re-enactment in Battle Antonio Borrillo · CC BY-SA 3.0
    Featured
    Reenactment & Battles Living History & Museums

    Battle of Hastings Re-enactment

    Battle, England

    English Heritage stages its annual re-enactment of the 1066 Battle of Hastings on the original battlefield at Battle Abbey in East Sussex on the weekend nearest the 14 October anniversary. More than 500 re-enactors recreate the clash between Harold's Saxons and William's Normans, with living-history camps, falconry, a medieval market and a sword school for children.

    – 2026
    Family

January 2027

  • Viking & Norse Historic City Celebrations

    Scalloway Fire Festival

    Scalloway, Scotland

    Scalloway's Viking fire festival opens Shetland's fire-festival season on the second Friday of January: a Guizer Jarl and a squad of men, women and children in Norse dress lead the torchlit procession through the village to the boating club slipway at Port Arthur, where the galley is set alight and cast adrift on the sea before a fireworks display and a night of hall performances. The next edition is Friday 8 January 2027.

    2027
    Family
  • Up Helly Aa (Lerwick) in Lerwick Balou46 · CC BY-SA 4.0
    Featured
    Music, Feasts & Theatre Viking & Norse +1

    Up Helly Aa (Lerwick)

    Lerwick, Scotland

    Up Helly Aa is Lerwick's Viking-themed fire festival, held on the last Tuesday of January: about a thousand torch-bearing guizers led by the Guizer Jarl's squad in Norse dress march through the town and burn a full-size replica longship, then tour a dozen halls performing skits until morning. It grew out of 19th-century tar-barrelling, with the first torch procession in 1881 and the first galley burning in 1889; the next edition is Tuesday 26 January 2027.

    2027
    Family

February 2027

  • Featured
    Reenactment & Battles Living History & Museums +1

    JORVIK Viking Festival

    York, England

    The JORVIK Viking Festival takes over York for a week every February half-term with a Viking encampment and traders' market in the city centre, a march of hundreds of warriors, talks, crafts, a best-beard contest and a ticketed finale battle with pyrotechnics. Founded in 1985 by the team behind the JORVIK Viking Centre, it is the largest Viking festival in Europe and draws around 40,000 people.

    – 2027
    Family

July 2027

  • Tewkesbury Medieval Festival in Tewkesbury Antony Stanley · CC BY-SA 2.0
    Featured
    Reenactment & Battles Medieval Markets & Fairs +1

    Tewkesbury Medieval Festival

    Tewkesbury, England

    A free two-day festival on the original 1471 battlefield that re-enacts the Battle of Tewkesbury with around 2,000 re-enactors, plus living-history camps and a large traders' market. Held every second full weekend of July since 1984, it is one of the largest medieval battle re-enactments in Europe.

    – 2027
    Family
  • Music, Feasts & Theatre Castle Events +1

    Fantasy Forest Festival (Sudeley Castle)

    Winchcombe, England

    Fantasy Forest is the UK's fantasy festival: three days in July in the grounds of Sudeley Castle at Winchcombe with folk, pagan and fantasy bands, a fantasy market, LARP and workshops, authors and a campsite, grown from just over 1,000 visitors in 2019 to a sold-out 21,000 in 2026. The 15th-century castle where Katherine Parr lies buried is the medieval backbone; the elves, dragons and costumes are the festival.

    – 2027
    Family
  • Jousting & Tournaments Living History & Museums +1

    The Loxwood Joust

    Loxwood, England

    The Loxwood Joust is a ticketed medieval festival staged over three weekends in August on Loxwood Meadow in West Sussex, billed as the 'Kingdom of Loxwood'. Alongside daily jousting it mixes living-history camps, falconry, blacksmithing, an executioner's show, archery, music and theatrical spectacle, with weekend camping and evening entertainment.

    Expected 2027
    Family

August 2027

  • Medieval Markets & Fairs Jousting & Tournaments +1

    England's Medieval Festival

    Nutley, England

    England's Medieval Festival is a three-day jousting, living-history and market festival over the August bank holiday weekend, with camping, evening entertainment and a large 'Kid's Kingdom'. Founded in 1993 at Herstmonceux Castle, it moved in 2023 to The King's Grove at Pippingford Park in the Ashdown Forest, East Sussex.

    Expected 2027
    Family

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