The Dublin HEMA Club is one of the oldest Historical European Martial Arts clubs active in Ireland.

It was founded in 2012 by Neil Byrne. Neil, has over a decades experience in a variety of different forms of fencing which culminated in his focus on Historical European Martial Arts. He was the founding president of HEMA Ireland, a national representative body for nearly all HEMA clubs found in the Republic of Ireland.

As well as running the Dublin HEMA Club, Neil has spoken at a number of events on the topic of weapons and armour from the Middle Ages and organised the largest annual HEMA event in the country Féile na Gaiscígh which runs on the second weekend of February.

The Dublin HEMA Club focuses on two weapons, Longsword and Sword & Buckler. In both disciplines our source material for our curriculum is German Fechtbuch or fencing manuscripts written by medieval fencing masters such as Dobringer, Ringeck and  Meyer influences. Our Sword & Buckler classes work entirely from the MS. I.33 or Walpurgis Fechtbuch, the oldest know extant European source on medieval fencing.

Coaches

Longword: Sam Hughes & Oisín Newport
Sword and Buckler: Neil Byrne

What IS HEMA?

HEMA or Historical European Martial Arts, refers to the study and practise of fighting systems found throughout Europe in the Middle Ages and later which were recorded in manuscripts written by fencing masters of the time that have survived to this day. Most HEMA clubs focus on a small number of weapons from a specific period and usually work of a very small number of texts, usually from roughly the same region.

Classes & Training

Our classes are twice a week from 20:00-22:00 on Monday and Friday evenings in St. Catherine’s Sports Centre, Marrowbone Lane, Dublin 8. Our Monday classes are a mixture of Sword & Buckler and Longsword while our Friday classes focus exclusively on Longsword. However this is not entirely fixed as we occasionally dabble in other areas such as Ringen, or medieval wrestling, amongst other fun things.

The cost for classes is €50 per month reduced to €40 per month for students. There is also an annual insurance fee of €60.

For more information please see our FAQs and event pages.

Classes

20:00-22:00
St. Catherine’s Sports Centre
Marrowbone Lane,
Dublin 8

New Members

Interested in joining our club? There are two ways to do so.

As our club does not offer walk-in classes, to join you must complete either a one day Beginners Workshop OR attend an 8 week Beginners Course, which run periodically. Beginner workshops run on a Saturday from 9:30-16:00 where you will be taught the fundamental basics of German longsword fencing. The workshop costs €50 and cover the equivalent of the 8-10 week Beginners Course. Once you have completed either a workshop or the 8 week course, you will then be eligible to join our club as a full member and attend all training classes.

All new joiners, for insurance reasons, must be over 16, and anyone under 18 must have a parent/guardian speak to our coaches first.

Otherwise all you need to attend training is:

• Wear comfortable clothes to exercise in

• Bring a water bottle

We will provide the rest!

Our next Beginners Workshop is now fully booked! To be placed on the waiting list in case of a cancellation or for our next workshop please fill out the following form:

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