More than 60 primary school children were whisked back in time to experience the fighting and fashions of medieval days when they attended a series of history workshops at the University of Wales, Newport.

The Year 6 youngsters got to grips with pikestaffs, swords and longbows to find out how armies battled it out in days of yore. They also tried on a range of medieval costumes to get a feel for the fashion garments of medieval times.

 “I put on a helmet and it was so heavy I nearly fell over,” said 10-year-old Rhian Fryer from Ponthir Primary School. “Today has been great fun and I’ve learned a lot about how people lived in medieval days.”

Clare Munroe, a teacher at Rhydri Primary School near Caerphilly, said, “The children thoroughly enjoyed it, and were especially excited about their first visit to a university.”

“All the children had a wonderful time and really got a lot out of the event,” said Laura Janes, one of the University’s First Campus co-ordinators. “As well as the hands-on medieval workshops presented by staff from Cosmeston Medieval Village, they were given an insight into life in Roman times with artefacts from Caerleon’s Roman Legionary Museum.”