ENTERTAINMENT on the coming Bank Holiday will be firmly lodged in the past, thanks to English Heritage.

The properties the organisation runs in North Yorkshire will be turning the clock back, on August 27 and 28.

At Whitby Abbey, the Dawn Duellists Society will be demonstrating the history of fencing and European martial arts from the 13th to 19th Centuries.

In the Dales, a strolling Medieval minstrel will be entertaining visitors, while at Richmond Castle Redcoats will take on the French in a Napoleonic skirmish.

At Helmsley Castle, the life and work of an English Civil War surgeon are to be revealed - showing how wounded soldiers were as much at risk from their treatment as their wounds.

Mount Grace Priory, near Northallerton, will be playing host to the Whitby Company of Archers, demonstrating the development of the bow and arrow and giving the public a chance to have a go.

At Scarborough Castle, the action will be fast and furious with the re-enactment of an American Civil War battle, featuring cannons and hand-to-hand fighting.

And at Pickering Castle the theme will be the passage to the New World, and events during the Cromwell era that led to an exodus to the colonies.