News

New viewing platform at Naseby

27 June 2011

The Director General and Master of the Armouries opens new viewpoint at Naseby

 

In spite of the rain (illustrative of the conditions the armies endured in the days before the battle in 1645) a good crowd of Benefactors and supporters turned out to see Lord Naseby present a bouquet to Jenny Tarry and thank her and Bill Tarry for granting permission to create the new footpath from the road south of Sibbertoft southwards to Sulby Hedges. Lieutenant General Jonathon Riley then spoke of the firm partnership between the Royal Armouries and the Naseby Battlefield Project and our shared hopes for the future visitor centre, including the Royal Armouries gallery where part of their collection will, it is hoped, be displayed.

 

He then declared the new viewing platform overlooking the battlefield from Sulby Hedges open. The platform has two interpretation boards to illustrate the crucial opening phase of the battle as we now understand it and also includes seating space to allow the weary to rest and contemplate the view of Broadmoor and compare it with the contrary impression had from the Cromwell Monument to the south-east before walking back to the highway. The platform design is by MJCT Architects of Banbury and the construction is by Mancraft of Sibbertoft.

 

Colonel Robert Hammond’s Regiment of Foote fired a salute, having inaugurated a bench seat nearby in memory of their late comrade-in-arms, Steve Harrison.

 

The walk from Sibbertoft passes the junction with the public footpath and eventually leaves the vehicle track to go round the side of a field, the route being marked with white-topped timber posts. The first viewpoint is at King Charles’s Oak, accessed by a timber foot-bridge (care needed, especially when wet), where the monarch was, perhaps, visible to Colonel Okey at the start of the battle. The path then follows the field edge to the new viewing platform. The wild-life of the area will soon be illustrated with information boards being developed with the help of the Northamptonshire Natural History Society, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the OPAL (Open Air Laboratories) scheme of the Field Studies Council, working with local schools. The new undertaking, extending the visitor experience to the western side of the battlefield, has been funded by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.