Discover all things metal, metalworking demonstrations, talks and history!
Activities free with your admission!
Normal entrance prices apply.
Discover metalworking through the ages! Join us for a weekend of metalworking in action, and explore this craft from its invention right up to the modern era as Butser Ancient Farm is taken over by The Festival Of Metals!
For this special event, we’re teaming up with the Historical Metallurgy Society (HMS) for an exciting festival of metals! Researchers, and craftspeople from HMS, alongside some of our very own metalworkers, will be demonstrating this ancient craft and sharing how it has developed from the Bronze Age, through the Iron Age and up to the Anglo Saxon. Watch expert metalworkers in action smelting, forging, and more, and listen to fascinating talks to discover how metal work has forged the world we live in today.
The Historical Metallurgy Society was founded in 1962 and holds metalworking conferences and meetings mainly in the UK but some in wider Europe! Bringing researchers, craftspeople and historians together!
Discover metalworking
See metalworking in action through the ages, from ancient to modern
Hear from national and international researchers
Attend talks and demonstrations
All included in your admission!
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Rowan Taylor, Clare Collier and Ernestas Jakubauskas - Re-Forging The Four-Crosses Spears
Investigating the Anglo-Saxon Four-Cross spears.
Katie Surridge - Bronze Age Inspired Furnaces
Come and see cast bronze being made in two Bronze Age inspired pit furnaces.
Phil Parkes - Making Maille (Chainmail) Rings
See what tools and techniques were used to make maille rings to weave into armour.
Andrea Dolfini - Use-Wear Analysis Of Prehistoric Metalwork
A hands on demonstration of the use-wear of prehistoric metalwork.
Simon Timberlake and Fergus Milton - Smelting And Co-Smelting Of Cooper And Tin In An Earth Furnace
A live experiment smelting oxidised copper ores from a Bronze Age mine and alluvial tin from a river to make a low-tin bronze.
Joe Tyler And Tom Tribe (The Saxon Smiths) - Forging An Anglo-Saxon Spear And Shield Handle
Constructing a spearhead and a shield handle from the Anglo-Saxon period.
Will Sherman - Arrow Smithing Through The Ages
Hayden Scott-Pratt - Iron Age Metalworking At Hengistbury Head
A demo showcasing the different types of metalworking practised at Hengistbury Head in Dorset at the end of the Iron Age.
James Clift - Bronze Age Bronze Casting
Casting replicas of Bronze Age bronze objects including a Sword, that will be available for auction.
Tom Timbrell - Iron Age Pit Forge
A recreation of an Iron Age Pit Forge, showcasing the tools, techniques and equipment of the Iron Age.
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11am - Simon Timberlake - Prehistoric metal mining in Britain
12pm - Russell Wanhill and Omid Oudbashi - Case histories of fracture in ancient metals
1pm - Justine Bayley - Non-ferrous metal working in the first millennium - Roman to Vikings
2pm - Tim Young - Bloomery ironmaking in southern Britain, resources and technology, from the early Iron Age to the late Medieval Period
3pm - Jeremy Hodgkinson - Iron-making in the Weald, 1490-1828: Sows, Cannon and Iron Backs
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11am - Andrea Dolfini - Sword Tales: understanding Bronze Age combat styles
12pm - Adi Eliyahu - From Bronze to Iron: the metal revolution in the Iron Age in the Southern Levant
1pm - Vincent Serneels - Medieval mass production of iron in Western Africa
2pm - Paul Mortimer and Matt Bunker - The Sutton Hoo metalwork
3pm - Joe Tyler and Tom Tribe - Anglo-Saxon weapons and the tools of the smith
Please be aware many of our guided activities and demonstrations are delivered by our wonderful volunteers and may be subject to change on the day. Talk schedule may be subject to change.
Annual Passholders get free admission to the farm any day we’re open for general admission — you only need to visit twice before you’re quid’s in! Learn more.
DOGS: Please feel free to bring your dogs with you! We just ask that they are well-behaved and kept on leads at all times.
REFUNDS: If we aren’t able to open the farm on the day of your visit, you will of course be completely refunded. Unfortunately in any other circumstances we aren’t able to offer refunds.
COVID-19: We’re still being careful, and will follow the government advice at the time. We’re a mostly-outdoors site, and encourage people to mask indoors if it makes them more comfortable. If you have any symptoms of COVID-19 or have been asked to self-isolate when you’re due to visit, please stay at home and take care of yourself.