Cultural References
The Battle of Sedgemoor is depicted in detail at the climax of plot in Arthur Conan Doyle's historical adventure novel "Micah Clarke".
The Battle also appears in Blackmore's Lorna Doone, where the hero arrives on the battlefield as the battle is finishing and then has to go to London to face Jeffries.
Likewise, The Royal Changeling, (1998), by John Whitbourn, describes the rebellion with some fantasy elements added. The Battle of Sedgemoor both opens and concludes the novel.
The Sealed Knot re-enactment society have re-enacted important parts of the rebellion's campaign, on the 300th anniversary in 1985, and again in 2005. For the first re-enactment, the folk trio Strawhead produced an album of various songs from the time and written especially, entitled 'Sedgemoor'. This album is often regarded as one of their finest.
A collection of poems (Sedgemoor) exploring this crucial, but neglected, episode in English history was written by poet and academic Malcolm Povey and published by Smokestack Books in 2006. The poems move between 1685 and the present, from England to Kosovo and Iraq, highlighting "the continuing cruelties of empire and hierarchy".
Povey's book received widespread praise, especially for its originality: "Not many poets try something as different and ambitious as this. It deserves to be widely read."
The battle is commemorated in Val Wake's poem Dead Willows Mourn. Val Wake, the Australian born journalist and author lived in Westonzoyland from 1973 to 1979.
A mural depicting the battle can be found on display at Sedgemoor motorway services on the North carriageway of the M5.
Events surrounding the battle occupy the first few chapters of Rafael Sabatini's novel Captain Blood.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Sedgemoor
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