Festival-goers from across UK embrace power of steam at Shrewsbury's Steampunk Spectacular
There were top hats, tailcoats and fiddles galore as festival-goers turned back the clock to the age of steam.
The Shrewsbury Steampunk Spectacular returned in style, with music, dancing and fashion of the era taking centre stage.
Some visitors to the county town will have been in for a shock when they saw The Clun Green Man and the Ice Queen marching along Castle Gates, followed by a merry band of musical steampunks, showing off their costumes on their "Peacock Parade".
The epicentre of the action was at St Mary's Church, where there was a wide variety of entertainment on throughout the day.
Teapot racing, Morris dancing and a Victorian crime and punishment exhibition were among some of the attractions at the event, which attracted visitors and traders from far and wide.
Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction that incorporates retro-futuristic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. It may also incorporate additional elements from the genres of fantasy, horror, historical fiction, alternate history or other branches of speculative fiction, making it often a hybrid genre.
Organiser Claire Harvey explained: "Steampunk is different for everybody really. It's embracing the power of steam. Imagine a world without electricity. How would we cope? How would we develop? It's all about the creativity involved in that.
"Lots of events are going on all over the UK, and what you tend to find is that people will visit all of them. They'll travel around the country and meet up with their friends. It's a real, good community get together."
The phenomenon has generated a loyal following, with a series of events up and down the county and fans who like to dress up in historic regalia.
Among those providing entertainment during the daytime event and a Caberet show in the evening were Alice Strange, The Cogkneys Hopeless, Maine Victor and the Bully Violet Hugh Leslie Scase, tea duelling, teapot racing, peacocks parade, Dungeons & Drag Kings, Ironmen and Severn Gilders Morris dancers and more.
Traders aimed to make hay while the sun shone in Shropshire, with the town centre busy despite a mild nip in the air.
Lynette and Jack Hanby, from Wem, first started going to steampunk events just as festival-goers, but their interest developed into a job, as they now sell clocks, handbags and other items on their Handbags and Gladrags stall.
"We started going to the festivals as just punters then we got into it and we've been doing it for about four or five years," said Lynette.
"I like steampunk because it can be anything - fantasy, it can be anything you want it to be."
Marcus Belton-Smith travelled from Carmarthen in south Wales with his clothing stall, Lurcher Gallery.
He said: "The thing I love with the steampunk, is there is no hard and fast rules. You can steampunk anything. So much works with it, right the way through. We try and cater for a bit of everything and sort out both the gents and the ladies, from the pirate frock coats to altering existing, modern coats.
"We also make curiose like monkey's paws, shrunken heads. A little bit of everything, and anything." To check out some of Marcus' items, visit lurchergallery.co.uk
