England’s Medieval Festival cancelled: Organiser says Herstmonceux Castle owner ‘dropped a bombshell decision’

The festival at Herstmonceux Castle started 29 years ago.

A spokesperson for organiser The Malcolm Group Events Ltd (MGEL) said: “The festival became integral to Sussex life as an annual focus with participants attending each year to celebrate English history on the grounds of a 15th century moated castle with a history dating back to Roman times.”

Bader International Study Centre (BISC) owns and operates the castle.

In March a spokesperson for the castle confirmed the site will not host the festival which is traditionally held over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Read the full piece from March here

MGEL said BISC ‘dropped a bombshell decision’ of refusing to hold the festival for its 30th year.

The MGEL spokesperson said: “MGEL made every effort to communicate with the BISC and find a solution to run the 30th anniversary festival at the castle in any form or scale that would be suitable to the BISC. MGEL even hired a professional to negotiate a solution, but to no avail.”

BISC said in March the event would not go ahead for environmental reasons.

The BISC statement said: “The festival, which is organised and run by an external company, attracts thousands of visitors and has without doubt been a significant event in the local area for many years. However, after much thought we have concluded that the scale of the event and significant impact it has on the estate is no longer compatible with the environmentally sustainable approach being taken on the castle’s 330-acre public estate.”

Read the full statement here

Since then, MGEL pointed out the castle hosted The Gardeners’ Gardening Show in May on the same grounds the festival would have been on.

The MGEL spokesperson said: “MGEL finds that the actions by the BISC have been utterly incomprehensible.”

MGEL said it carried out an ‘extensive search’ to find another venue but nothing was available and it had to cancel the 2022 festival.

A spokesperson for BISC said: “I’m afraid that we are unable to comment for legal reasons. You have of course seen our statement from March and I’m afraid we can say no more at this stage.”

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