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  Archery is a diverse and historic sport and past time and the modern range of the sport covers from the traditional types of bow such as the longbow through to the modern material recurve and compound bows which utilise the benefits of modern fibre and material technology.

The origins of archery:

Across the planet, archery was independently invented by different tribes of people with only slight variances based upon the available materials and conditions. This is shown by the development of the Mongol recurve and the longbow.

As society and the mankind progressed the bow was turned from hunting to war, where all able bodied English men (between the ages of 12 and 65) were legally required to spend 2 hours practicing at the butt's every Sunday. This law actually still stands, but is no-longer enforced.

 

Archery related trivia:

Through the years that archery has existed, it has been both the centre of like and the politics of warfare; and in the process generated much trivia. Some of this includes:

  • The phrase 'keep it under your hat' refers to the practice of archers keeping a spare string under their hat in order to keep it dry in the event of rain.
  • The phrase 'a bolt out of the blue' refers to a crossbow bolt falling out of the sky. Due to the quiet with which a bow operates, such an event would be an abrupt surprise to all.
  • A medieval English archer was expected to have between 8 and 10 arrows in the air at any one time and a typical fire rate of around 12 arrows a minute (that is an astounding one every 5 seconds).
  • A typical bow above 30lb's draw weight has approximately the same acceleration curve as a Lee-Enfield rifle over the first few meters.