CANNON blasts, war cries and the screams of wounded soldiers greeted visitors to the usually tranquil grounds of Oakwell Hall Country Park, Birstall, over the weekend.
About 150 members of the Leeds-based branch of the Sealed Knot Society re-enacted the battle of Adwalton Moor.
The bloody Civil War encounter took place in 1644 and marked a low point for Cromwell's forces.
Roundhead troops, perhaps hoping to re-write history, donned thickly padded armour to re-live the fateful encounter with the Royalist enemy fighting for Charles I.
As the cannons boomed deafeningly over the field, pikemen, musketeers and even musicians skirmished in boiling temperatures.
"Imagine the noise the cannons are making multiplied by 100. That's what a real battle would have sounded like," said Sealed Knot member Anne Rhodes.
She was among about 100 more society members, mostly women and children, showing visitors how our ancestors lived 360 years ago.
Anne, from Pontefract, has been in Sealed Knot for more than 30 years.
She was awaiting news of her husband, Brian, from the battlefield while making vegetable stew and sausages for the brave Roundheads.
"We go all over the country re-enacting Civil War battles," she said.
During the English Civil War, women and children often had no option but to follow their husband and father if he was conscripted by the lord of the manor.
"The women and kiddies would have tagged along.
"If he was killed in battle, she would quickly have to find a replacement to avoid falling into abject poverty."
The Roundheads eventually lost the day to superior forces.
In 1644, 500 were killed and 1,400 captured.
The survivors retreated past the historic Oakwell Hall.
Kirklees Council's senior museums officer Eric Brown said it was a fantastic day out.
"Their performance is excellent. It was easy to imagine you were back in the 17th century."
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