East Kent Warbow Society

The East Kent Warbow Society (EKWS) was borne out of an idea to hold a medieval archery shoot in Kent. With the closure of some groups / societies and others being too far away. We decided to create something in Kent that catered for the older type of bow and the heavier poundage bows. Jason from Canterbury Medieval Combat and Nick from Classic Bowyer set about putting this together.

During the year there will be 3 types of shoot available

1. Butts Shooting – shooting into targets unto 40 metres
2. Clout shooting – range shooting at a clout upto 200 metres
3. Woodland roving shoots in woods firing at 5 woodland animal targets – so a longbow hunt 

I wan to keep this as traditional medieval bows.  So English Longbow shaped bows, Viking bows and Eastern Horse Bows are all allowed.  Modern composite or sport bows are not in keeping with what we are trying to accomplish here.

If you wanted to come and shoot in medieval clothing that is also perfectly fine.  If you don’t want to, that is also fine.

We might have equipment to use for those who don’t have bows. I am working with a vendor right now to offer rental bows and arrows for beginners.  We will have two vendors that I can recommend for you to source Bows and Arrows.

We can only accept signed up members at shoots initially, so you will need to join in order to take part in shoots. The annual cost of membership which only covers insurance is £29.99. If you want to join the society please complete the form here and you will be sent a link to make your annual payment. Each shoot is £12 for members and can be paid on the day in cash or via the site ahead of time.

If you bring your own equipment, please note we do want to keep this traditional so please no modern bows.

There will be other related courses and workshops too. We are planning a bow making day, an arrow making day and possibly an arrow head making day too.