THE people of Liscarroll, Co Cork are putting their village on the map this bank holiday weekend by commemorating a battle they lost more than 350 years ago. Helping them is a contingent of the Sealed Knot, a group from Britain which specialises in reenacting 17th century battles.

While the Battle of Liscarroll was viewed locally as a fight between the Irish and the English, the visitors see it as just another battle in the English civil war between the Royalists and the Confederates.

Chairman of the Liscarroll Community Council, Noel Brosnan, believes the interpretation is not the most important issue and points out that of the 10,000 fighting men involved in the original battle, 8,000 were Irish. He does not have any problem either with being seen remembering a battle lost by the Catholic Royalists, with whom the Irish identified.

"It's a shame not to remember those who lost, after all they gave their lives for something they believed in. It would be like saying to us nobody should watch a match on television that Cork lost," he said.

The leaders could not be clearly defined, either, as the man in charge of the Confederists was Lord Inchquin of the old Irish O'Brien family, while leading the Irish, army was a member of an old Norman family, Garrett Barry.

The English visitors, in full period costume with pikes, muskets, gunpowder, swords and cannon, were delighted with Liscarroll. "General" Douglas Turner explained there were very few castles of the period left standing in Britain, and very few descendants of those who took part in the original battles were still around. He said he had visited Dromoland Castle in Co Clare to see a portrait of the man who led his troops into battle in Liscarroll in September 1642.

General Turner played the role of Lord Inchquin in the re enactment yesterday afternoon. And it will all be repeated today at 2.30 p.m., when the present day Lord Inchquin is expected to attend.

The original battle, which lasted seven hours and left 600 of the Royalists dead while Inchquin claimed only six of his men died, was not played out in full yesterday. Instead the historians and script writers in the Sealed Knot concentrated on a segment of the battle, spiced with some of the more interesting incidents from the rest. General Turner could not say exactly how long each re enactment would last - "we keep an eye on the audience", he explained.

LOCAL people were impressed with the attention to detail of the visitors, who give their time voluntarily but conform to strict rules of dress and behaviour. Despite the very warm weather, they wore layers of cotton and wool and turned out for sentry duty to guard the gates of their castle against intruders.

Even the music was in period with Nick Cooper playing the fife, accompanying the drums. He explained that the drums were the official musical instrument of the army with money for them coming out of regiment funds while the commanding officer paid for the fifes from his own pocket.

But there was an addition to the usual marches and double jigs played by, the Sealed Knot when one of their musicians, Penny Crack, discovered the Walls of Liscarroll in a music book she bought the day she arrived in Cork.

The society has 6,000 members, half of whom are "fighting men and 0" making them the largest re enactment society in Europe. As well as staging war battles they have taken part in television dramas and documentaries, for which the individual members do not receive any fees. They have raised a lot of money for charities and communities, "bringing the past to life in aid of the future".

Much organisation went into the weekend with the people of Liscarroll feeding the group of 200 "military" visitors, organising, camping facilities inside the high stone walls of the castle and ensuring, with the help of the Army, the safe storage of their gunpowder and muskets. There was also the matter of horses for the cavalry. The local Duhallow Hunt, one of the oldest in the country, came to the rescue with 24 animals. These horses had never seen battle and special precautions were taken not to upset them, including warning the standard bearer not to flourish his flag too close to them.

The organisers are delighted with the success of their venture so far and hope to have the Sealed Knot return again next year.

"There are lots of other things they can reenact which people would find very interesting, in eluding hangings and other parts of the battle," explained Mr Brosnan. They also plan to open an interpretative centre near the castle next year.