Est. 2016
News Updates
May 5th:
Introducing our next instructor
Grant Mcgregor
With
"Hunt the Blade: McBane's Attack into the Blade and Why It Changed Everything"
While the gentlemen of the French salons were trading feints and sentiment du fer, Donald McBane was hammering blades aside in the mud of Flanders and the chaos of the prize ring. This workshop explores what made McBane's approach to attacking the blade so distinct — and so devastatingly effective.
Drawing on McBane's own Expert Sword-man's Companion (1728), we examine how his battlefield experience forged a system built on physical certainty over elegant deception. Students will also touch on how McBane's Highland Broadsword instincts bled into his Smallsword theory, creating a hybrid that his contemporaries found uncouth — and terrifying.
Grant began his journey into historical swordsmanship at the Macdonald Academy of Arms in 2017, before joining the Cat's Glove School of Traditional Defence in 2020, where he has been hunting blades ever since.
April 5th:
With:
‘’tis but a scratch’
This workshop takes an anatomical look at duelling and battlefield injuries looking at all the ways we can die whilst fighting and explores how McBane managed to avoid them all.
Janet is a fellow of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and has spoken at international
conferences about the importance of increasing public knowledge of anatomy. Janet has appeared on BBC How the Victorians built Britain as well as the Smithsonian Channel and several pod casts. Her latest appearance on Britain’s Murder Map is scheduled for April 7th on Sky History
https://www.history.co.uk/shows/britains-murder-map
Nearer to home she will also be appearing at the Royal College of Physicians as part of their celebration of 300 years of the medical school
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/.../anatomy-burke-to...
Some of these appearances are based around health literacy, most are about murder but none as yet have been about disembowelment on the battlefield
Janet has also been a long term student and Free Fencer at the Cat's Glove School of Traditional Defence and the Black Boar School.
March 27th:
Our next Instructor. Introducing
Tommy Joe Moore
With
“The Prizefighter’s Answer to the Club - A tale of cuffs and cudgels"
Donald McBane fought in wars, duels, tavern brawls, and prize rings across Europe. In his world, if a man came at you with a cudgel, you either learned to deal with it… or you didn’t live long enough to write a fencing manual.
This workshop explores practical historical methods for surviving stick and club attacks when you are unarmed. Drawing inspiration from the brutal prize-fighting culture of Donald McBane’s era, we examine how pugilism, distance management, and grappling can be used to close safely against a weapon and end the fight quickly.
Tommy can often be found teaching a variety of martial arts, from pugilism to WW2 Combatives. With a background in Judo, Muay Thai, Eskrima, Savage and Reality Based Self-defence, Tommy has published books on Bartistu, WW2 Combatives and Boxing.
March 20th:
Tickets are now live, be quick while the Early Bird special lasts
March 13th:
Introducing our first instructor for the 2026 Event
With
"Je ne sais quoi"
Starting with "He told me he had two comerads that were Frenchmen that knew me not, they would give me nothing unless I would fight all three, I told them I would have a fair trial for it (...) and wounded them all three", we will look at four treatises: Liancour, McBane, Hope, and Hope, to find out, what it is, the Scots do better than the French?
This is a comparison of McBane's Smallsword to other contemporaries.
Smallswords will be provided if you don't have one and a limited amount of masks and gloves.
