BUMPER crowds flocked to Corfe Castle over the bank holiday weekend to watch Viking warriors battle Saxon defenders.

The three-day Siege of Wareham re-enactment event transported onlookers back to the Middle Ages.

Corfe Castle's grounds were transformed into a Saxon village with numerous structures.

Meanwhile, members of the public also had the chance to watch young warriors training and experience a variety of living history displays.

A National Trust spokesman explained: "This event took us back to the year 876AD when marauding Vikings captured the nearby town.

"Crowds watched as King Alfred the Great’s Saxon army battled the invaders in full scale re-enactments. They also had the chance to visit King Alfred’s Court and meet craftspeople in the Saxon Village."

New for this year's re-enactment were the Saxon and Viking essential skills and storytelling workshops, which will continue at Corfe Castle next weekend, then again on May 21 & 22.

The spokesman said: "Visitors had the chance to learn how to use a flint and steel for lighting fire, weave braids and listen to 9th century sagas of heroes, monsters and demons from our wandering storyteller.

"They could become a Saxon or Viking warrior, find out what it was like to wear the armour, see the weapons and learn the skills in interactive sessions."

The Danes invaded and occupied Wareham in 876AD, only leaving after Alfred the Great returned with an army and made the Vikings a payment.

In 998 the Vikings attacked again and in 1015 Wareham was left in ruins following an invasion led by King Canute.

By the end of the Saxon period Wareham had become one of the most important towns in the country. Wareham Town Walls - ancient earth ramparts - date back to the 9th century.