THERE'S a pearl of sweat dripping down my cheek, writes TOM SEAWARD.

From inside the metal helmet I can see barely anything below my neck.

A barrel-chested bearded man says: “My sword’s down by your ankles.”

It is. I can hear its tip tapping against my metal shin guards - called ‘greaves’.

The man in front of me is Chris Fox. He’s the ‘Hand of the King’ for the College of Chivalry, a Swindon-based medieval re-enactment group.

By day, he’s a Year 5 teacher at Mountford Manor Primary School in Walcot. But at the weekends the 30-year-old joins 21 others, touring castles, fairs and history festivals around the country.

The group, who train at Roves Farm in Sevenhampton, specialise in sword fighting and archery - although they also show history fans other aspects of life in the middle ages, like calligraphy and weaving.

The College of Chivalry was set up five years ago by Black Cat Archery founder Andrew Smith.

Now, the group are a regular feature at the Old Town Festival.

Today, as the Lawns basks under perfect blue skies on the opening day of the festival, Chris is giving me a taste of life as an English knight 600 years ago.

I’m being dressed up as a poor knight from the early 1300s. But I’m finding that even a poor knight had to wear an enormous amount of gear.

We start with a gambeson, a padded tunic whose metal chest plates would have offered limited protection against a sword attack.

The heavy tunic stops just above my knees and boasts the same insulation as a winter-weight 15.5 tog duvet.

Chris straps metal plates onto my shins and plate armour around my arms. Thin leather straps hold a wooden shield against my left arm.

Finally, I’m given a steel helmet. The extravagant white feathers tucked into the top of it denote I’m a noble, apparently.

For a poor soldier it would have cost about four years’ wages, making it a valuable prize pinched from the battlefield.

A sword is shoved into my right hand. Around three feet long and polished to perfection, it’s not nearly as heavy as I thought it would be.

Taken together, the gear adds about four or five stone to my weedy frame.

“Knights would have to spend eight hours fighting,” says Chris.

“We’ve got plenty of water here. But you can just imagine what it would have been like during the Crusades.”

He takes me through some moves. I knock the polish off the sword, burying it into the mud after I’m told to practice a downward slashing move designed to split an opponent from bonce to belly-button.

It’s great fun, lunging forward and backwards - attacking, parrying and counter-attacking.

We’re taking it slowly, although the sweat is already dripping down my back.

When they perform for the crowds, the College of Chivalry are fighting for real.

“It’s not choreographed,” says Chris, who has several trips to A&E under his belt to prove it.

His partner wasn’t worried when he broke his arm in one fight: “It was more a case of, ‘well, it was always going to happen’.”

The difficulty came in explaining the injuries to concerned medical staff. “You say you were hit with an axe and instantly out come the police report forms.”

On cross channel trips the swords and axes locked in the group’s horse trailer have raised eyebrows among eagle-eyed customs officers.

“There’s a few times we’ve been stopped,” Chris laughs. He’s even bought a pick-up 4x4 to allow him to lock the swords safely in the boot.

Despite boasting enough weaponry to begin a private war, the College of Chivalry are a friendly bunch. They socialise together and are keen to welcome more people to the group.

Jenna Putnam, 31, joined the group three-and-a-half years ago. The Swindon Academy teaching assistant had been chatting online to Chris when he invited her to see him perform in Old Town.

“It was the first time we’d met in person,” the mum-of-one said. “I came with a friend.”

After watching him fighting in full armour, the couple went to the cinema and a pizza restaurant for their first date - with Chris still wearing his medieval tunic.

Jenna now tours the country’s history festivals with the group. Archery is a favourite of hers - and she and Chris are still an item.

“We’re not just turning up one day, then going home,” she says of the College of Chivalry.

“We’re always encouraging people to come and have a go.”

Jack Bailey, 15, was one of those who came to have a go - after seeing the group performing at Glastonbury Festival two years ago.

The Royal Wootton Bassett Academy pupil, who has just finished his GCSEs, says: “I love fighting - it’s so fun. I like the adrenaline rush.”

Mum Bin Bailey, 51, is also part of the group. I speak to her as she’s practicing archery with a replica longbow.

“I like the skill of being able to pick up a piece of equipment from the medieval era and do something with it," she says.

“And the little thrill you get when you hit the gold target never goes away.”

Before I leave, Chris shows me the devastating power of the group’s sharpest swords.

He balances a plastic milk carton on top of a flat-topped knight’s helmet. Swinging the sword, he slices through the carton. The water it’s carrying sprays into the air - but the cuts to the carton are perfectly straight.

It’s a sword made for the very best knights - and designed to slice through peasant armies.

“They’d have just been mowing people down, like the medieval version of a tank.”

To find out more about the College of Chivalry, visit: www.collegeofchivalry.com