Visitors turned out in their hundreds to see an historic re-enactment about the ‘Nuns of Lacock Abbey’ in the village at the weekend.

The event which was the largest living history weekend that the National Trust has held in the grounds of Lacock Abbey, told the story of the nuns who used to live and worship there in the 13th century and saw 1,900 visitors turn up during the weekend.

Visitor services manager of the National trust Lacock Abbey, Karen Bolger said: “Although we have held smaller living history events at the abbey in previous years this is the largest and first ever re-enactment based on the lives of the nuns who used to reside here.

“We always look to hold something different each year and we thought that with so many people passing through the abbey each year seeing the history it holds, it would be good for people to learn about the lives of the nuns.”

The National Trust worked with Black Knight Historical, who researched the lives of the nuns and performed all of the re-enactment and display scenes with displays of a nuns life and a display of medieval living also.

Event organiser from Black Knight Historical, Ian Pycroft played the Bishop of Salisbury.

He said: “The whole weekend went really with visitors enjoying the displays and asking questions about history which we were able to answer as we had done research into the lives of the nuns and of that time, beforehand.

“The kids really enjoyed it as well because we not only had the nuns but we also had a couple of knights there with their armour on and some children dressed up.”

One of the favourite scenes amongst visitors was the excommunication of a nun who had wanted to teach the poor and said that the Bishop of Salisbury was only interested in making money by teaching the wealthy.