Autumn at Greenmount
Matt Latimer's write up on Ballyvally's Autumn Shoot held in the gloriously serene Greenmount venue.
Tag Longbow
Walter Scott — The Lay of the Last Minstrel (archery and border warfare episodes)
I rest a seasoned yew bowstave across my knees, its belly scored deep with thumbnail marks left by generations of bordermen—men who lived by the string, dying by the sword. Oil from forgotten palms stains the grip dark as bruised…
The Narrow Mouth of Dupplin Moor – When the Longbow Learned Its Killing Shape
What lesson passed from the narrow mouth of Dupplin Moor into the longbow, once a bodkin head rested in my palm like a cold tooth pulled from an iron beast? Hammered into a small point, the bodkin head grants blunt…
William Neade: The Man Who Tried to Splice the Longbow to the Pike
What did William Neade truly try to save in 1624: the longbow itself, or the commonwealth of trained bodies that had gathered around bowstave and shaft, across parish field and statute, through drill, prayer, and pay? Within the small quarto…
Ascham Argues Bow For Commonwealth
Roger Ascham arrived on my kitchen table bound within a worn volume, carrying the smell of chalky dust alongside old paste. A block of beeswax sat beside my longbow, waiting near a coiled linen string. Holding those threads evoked an…
Ballistics of Myth in Flesh
A question lodged in my mouth with the abrasive persistence of a burr caught inside a sock, and from that small irritation the whole inquiry drew its shape: when a yew bow sings, which vessel receives the hymn—the timber itself,…
Henry Pert – The Last Mistake he Ever Made in Archery
Sometime ago I came across a peculiar, and dare I say comical, tid-bit of archery lore. When reading 1411 QI Facts To Knock You Sideways, there came an entry that excited me greatly as it was archery related. In the…
Choosing Your First Bow Guide
I came up with the idea to write this article after reading a message on the club’s chat—one of the fellow archers was curious about horse bows and asked for advice. I liked the brief exchange between him and one…
The Ways of Archery in “A Song of Ice and Fire”
Greetings, Readers… A clean field opens, a breeze crosses the skin, and a bow rises into that light like a living thought. A page turns, a world gathers, and George R. R. Martin’s archers step forward with quivers that carry…
An Unnatural History of the Bow: Trivia for the Terminally Curious Archer
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When the French came to town…
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Bluebell Shoot 2025
It is now summer, which in Ireland means the weather likes to behave in more of a bipolar manner. Summer in Ireland is different from the other two seasons – I’m convinced we don’t really get Spring, just a mildish…
The Case for Greater Archery
This is an updated version of an article I published a few years ago, about how badly the Olympics and World Archery need to diversify the representation of shooting styles. Given the inclusion of compound, I felt it was appropriate to not only republish it but update it too.
No Comfort Zone For Next 24 Targets
As the fictious, famed Chaos Theorist and open shirt enthusiast, Dr Ian Malcom, once said, “Hang on, this is going to be bad.” 3D Archery is not like Field Archery, and very far removed from Target Archery. Each of the…