About Us

History

Knights Gone By was founded in 1999. We started with a small showroom on the ground floor of the medieval Postern Gate Tower of Conwy Town Walls. Within a year, through providing an excellent service to our customers, we were able to move to larger premises –the ground floor of the neighbouring Vardre Hall (directly opposite Conwy Castle). In 2001 we released our mail-order catalogue and launched our website. Demand for our products grew so quickly that by 2002 we needed to purchase a warehouse as a base of operations. In 2004 we opened our Suit of Armour Showroom in a medieval tower, displaying 15 different suits of armour. This showroom has now closed as we are now main agents for the manufacturers rather than stockists and as such our prices have almost halved since 2004. Over the years our staff have been trained in swordsmanship and in 2007 our shop manager became the European Historical Combat Guild Chapter Master for the North Wales Chapter. As such, we are now able to offer training in many of the lines that we sell.

Products

When the company was founded, most of the mass produced swords and armour available were manufactured in Toledo, Spain. Swords had been produced there since the Middle Ages and the town had an international reputation for centuries as the finest producer of swords in Europe. Unfortunately, in 2004, factories in China started copying Spanish made swords, at a fraction of the price (and the quality!). We do retail some of the better made Chinese lines (to offer a budget range) but the majority of our swords are still made in Spain. Our armour range is produced in Italy and India. The Italian range is excellent quality and we will only accept the best of what India has to offer. Again, there are many copies of our quality lines out there that we would be too embarrassed to sell.

Showroom and Opening Hours

Our showroom can be found on the ground floor of Vardre Hall, opposite Conwy Castle. It is fully stocked with many of our lines, concentrating on products below £100 and the best sellers above this price.

We are open 7 days a week, 10:00 -17:00. If you do make the journey to see us, please call first if you are after a specific item so that we can make sure that it is in stock for you. Remember, many of our lines are made to order.

Environmental Pledge

Where possible, we try to reuse as much of the packaging that we receive as possible. Although the vast majority of the items that we retail are supplied boxed, sometimes we have to reuse boxes from other deliveries. If this poses a problem, please contact us first to find out how your item is packaged.