A regiment of foot during the English Civil War consisted of pikemen and musketeers. A pike was a wooden pole that was about 18 feet long with a sharp metal spike on one end. 

It was considered to be a more noble and traditional weapon than the musket – a weapon for gentlemen that needed strength, skill, and training to master and nerves of steel to fight with. Pike blocks could would form up in the centre of the line of battle, and they could either protect musketeers from cavalry attack or be used as huge offensive infantry formations that would edge towards each other, their pikes levelled at ‘the charge’ before engaging in ‘push of pike’, where they would try and break the enemy’s formation.

At the beginning of the English Civil Wars, armies would have roughly one pikeman for every one to two musketeers. By 1645 when the New Model Army was formed it was a definite two to one.

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For safety, our pikes are not fitted with a metal head, but have a shaped wooden end. They are however handled in the same way. Our pike block is made up of anything from 9 to 20 pikemen, usually arranged in rows of three. An officer stands outside the block and issues orders.

We fight in one of two ways: The Charge, where pikes are levelled at the enemy and we advance towards them to push them back, and the Pike Push, our usual way of fighting and is pike at its most competitive – we raise our pikes and move into formation, not unlike a rugby scrum, and then drive forward in an effort to push our opponents over or split their block apart.

As well as being very tiring and physically demanding work, pike pushing can take a lot of skill. But being a member of the block gives a real sense of being part of a team and an extraordinary adrenaline rush