'Viking re-enactment is best thing I do in my spare time'

For 14 years, Jack Batley has donned heavy chainmail and a steel helmet, taking to the "battlefield" as a Viking re-enactor.

"What got me into it is I've always had a fascination with history," he said.

"I think this period is one of the most interesting because there is so much difference between what we think we know and what actually happened."

Batley is a member of the Stoke-on-Trent based group, Y Ddraig Dark Age Re-enactments.

The group covers the history of the Vikings in England, from the first raid of the country at Lindisfarne in 793, through to the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

As re-enactors, the group wear clothes and armour that are as faithful as possible to what the Vikings would have worn, including chainmail that weighs approximately six to seven stone.

While the Vikings are often portrayed as bloodthirsty raiders, part of the intrigue for Batley is looking at the wider picture of who these people really were.

"There's a lot of misconceptions around the period. We have this vision of the Vikings as this brutal race who came across the seas and raided our monasteries and killed all the innocent people," Batley said.

"But there's a lot more to the Viking era. They were also traders and craftspeople and they integrated into society in a big way.

"Some of them did bring a lot of benefits to the country as well."

As well as being a re-enactor, Batley is also a history teacher, saying: "I spend all day talking to children about how fantastic history is and how much we can learn from history.

"Then being able to actually wear the clothes based on finds from the period, use the weapons, recreate those sites and sounds and feelings from the battles and how people lived their day-to-day lives.

"It's the best thing I do with my free time, I absolutely love it."

Batley is taking part in a Viking re-enactment at Stafford Castle on Saturday and Sunday, a family-friendly event which has taken place since 2022.

"People are coming from all over the country to support this because it's such a friendly, welcoming, engaging event," he said.

Olly Parry, the events coordinator at Historic Stafford, helped to organise the event.

"Each year it has grown and grown and it's a really popular event in Stafford now," he said.

"You can come and see these battles and this village on an actual historic site, on a castle, on a motte and bailey. It's really quite dramatic."

Speaking about the success of the event and re-enactments in general, Parry added: "We've been helped by TV shows that have focused on these eras of history, but I think there's something about being there and hearing weapons clash and seeing the way people did things differently from different cultures or times that appeals to everybody regardless of how much you know about history.

"It's just appealing to be a part of it and learn, and learn in such a tangible, physical way."

Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.