A LIVING history group surprised shoppers in Winchester with a duel based on practice from the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Foreign Field Living History Group re-enacted “the gentleman’s pistol duel” in The Square, attracting crowds during February half-term.

The actors embodied the life of honour and crime in the Georgian and Regency period with a “polite exchange of bullets” using duelling pistols while dressed in traditional waistcoats.

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Hampshire Chronicle:

Duels although illegal were planned between two gentlemen in the late 18th and early 19th centuries as a fight for honour to settle affairs. This style of combat was considered more gentlemanly than a fist fight which was associated with the lower classes.

The historical interpreters seen in The Square portray various people and acts throughout history from medieval times to the Cold War.

For more go to foreign-field.co.uk/. Click through the gallery at the top of the page to see more images from the duel in Winchester.