The Loxwood Joust 2026: a medieval summer wrap-up

If you have been keeping an eye on the Sussex event calendar this summer, you will have seen the Loxwood Joust taking up a good chunk of August. It is one of the longest-running jousting events in Britain, and this year's edition has just wrapped up after a full sixteen days, running from 1 to 16 August. For anyone who missed it, it is worth knowing what it is, because it tends to come back around when the school holidays are in full swing again.

The event is put on by The Kingdom of Loxwood, the stage name for Legend Presents Ltd, and it takes place at Loxwood Meadow in West Sussex, RH14 0AL. The site itself is a thirty-acre farm and event ground that the Bacon family took over in 2011, and it runs daily from 10:00 to 18:00. One of the things that sets it apart from a lot of other heritage events is that it does not ask for advance booking, so you can turn up for an afternoon or stay longer without having committed weeks ahead. That flexibility, combined with the August dates, is a big part of why it works as a family day out during the summer break.

What you actually get when you go is a proper medieval-renaissance festival rather than a single show. Professional riders and combat performers put on demonstrations of medieval warfare techniques, horsemanship and tournament culture, and that is surrounded by live jousting, combat, characters, quests, food, drink and interactive experiences. The open-meadow setting is a real plus for watching, too, because it gives you good sightlines across the whole site while keeping the safety boundaries in place around the action.

If you were hoping to catch the tail end of it, there is a catch: tickets for 2026 are listed as sold out, so the gates are now closed for the year. The organisers have already pointed towards 2027, with tickets and dates due to be announced soon, so it is one to keep on the radar rather than chase this month. The official website is loxwoodjoust.co.uk, and if you want to ask about next year, the contact details are +44 07866468632 and maurice@baconempire.com.

For anyone who has caught the medieval bug and is still looking for something similar in the region, the calendar is not empty. The International Medieval Jousting Tournament at Arundel Castle ran on 21 July, about 23 kilometres away, and Henry VIII's Joust at Hampton Court Palace took place from 11 to 19 July, roughly 40 kilometres off. The one still to come is England's Medieval Festival at Pippingford Park in Uckfield, which is due on 29 August, around 36 kilometres away, so there is still a chance to catch some armoured combat before the summer ends. Between them, the south east keeps a surprisingly steady supply of jousting going, so missing Loxwood this year does not have to mean missing out entirely.