Unlike our ‘Elder Arm’, the Pike, the Shotte were not ‘gentlemen’ but common Cornish ‘hedgers’ considered to have insufficient wit to master the pike.

When you first join the musket you will not be able to fire but will fight with a ‘dummy’ until you have received training in the safe use of gunpowder and passed a Sealed Knot musket test. The muskets we use are firing replicas of actual weopons used in the 16th century and you must hold a valid shotgun license in order to own and use one. In addition you will need a blackpowder licence to draw gunpowder. This is carried in a powder horn or distributed into twelve ‘apostles’, wooden flasks hanging from a bandolier across your chest. This normally contains a pouch where you keep you wadding - tissue paper - which replaces ball for obvious reasons! Many musketeers also carry a sword. With a felt hat cast at a jaunty angle and a swagger in your step you are every bit the Royalist musketeer

At the start of the battle often a skirmish line of musketeers will be deployed to harrass the enemy before the musket blocks from opposing armies form up to face and fire volleys at each other. The deafening sound and billowing clouds of sulphurous smoke are an exhilarating spectacle. The order to “club butts and draw swords” signals that you are ready to charge at the enemy and engage in hand-to-hand combat. One's thespian skills rise to the fore when asked to ‘take casualties“ against a volley or ‘take a hit“ during a mêlée and play dead. Often a good opportunity for a rest!

A new musketeer will get training during drill and, we hope, a taste for the sound and smell of black powder as a non-firing member of the block. We will try to get you some ‘live’ firing before you spend money on a shotgun licence - just to make sure that you are comfortable handling black powder. If not there are other arms that you can try. However, being less of a full body contact role than pike it is an ideal for members who want some action - but not that much!