From TES issue 62 (March 2010)

Series 5/6. Level 1.
WOLFENDEN
I think it was a very interesting idea to introduce this typical medieval village into the programme, as the dimensions of the Dungeon stretched out into the surrounding countryside. It gave us a chance to see peasants and traders going about their daily business, and to have the dungeoneers get involved in everyday village life (to a small degree) as part of their quest, which was certainly an interesting development for Knightmare as a whole, if not exactly satisfying to those who enjoyed the darker, Dungeon-bound days of the early series.
Even though I generally prefer the more enclosed atmosphere of the early days, I do like Wolfenden as a location, and I quite enjoy seeing the dungeoneers trading with Julius Scaramonger and Ah Wok, or popping into the Gateway Inn for a crust of bread and a spyglass sequence. The entire village is made up of buildings from the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum near Chichester in West Sussex, and the main “High Street” area of Wolfenden makes up the bulk of the museum’s main focal area, so it is perfectly possible to walk down Wolfenden High Street yourself if you want to!
Even though we didn’t see the village after series 6, the influence of Wolfenden was felt throughout the remainder of Knightmare’s run. In series 7, the small town of Warlock (in the area of level one known as Grimdale) was introduced during Julie’s quest, which immediately brought Wolfenden to mind, while in series 8, Lord Fear mentions Wolfenden High Street as a location in a game of Dungeon Monopoly that he is playing with Lissard.

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With its vivid, peopled setting, it's no surprise that the settlement of Wolfenden has captured the imagination of numerous Knightmare fanfiction scribes. Fanfics that feature Wolfenden include I, Julius, Interactive Story #4, One In The Eye (by Jake Collins) and The March of Progress.

Arguably the most prominent use of Wolfenden in KM fanfiction is as a location on the Knightmare Roleplay forum. Over 5400 of the forum's posts have been taken place in Wolfenden, which comprises:

The Marketplace
Traders have included Edward Deal (who attacked Skarkill here), Ah Wok, and Kully, as well as Julius Scaramonger's son Oliver and Honesty Bartram's daughter Verity Seldam. Customers have included Robin, FrightKnight, Sylvester Hands and the elder Grimwold, who rampaged through the marketplace in search of stolen chocolate coins in one of the forum's earliest threads.

The Crazed Heifer
The subject of its own Lexicon article.

The Wolf's Howl Inn
The default accommodation for overnight visitors to Wolfenden. A number of the Knightmare Boarding School's former staff and pupils ended up staying here. Hordriss, Raven, The Brollachan, Brother Strange and Young Grimwold have also visited. Inn staff include owner Dal Marx, his half-elvish daughter Ann-Marie and Jane "Raggie" Ragnell.

Wolfenden Village
A general area that includes miscellaneous places such as a church, guardhouse and square. Smirkenorff has found room to land in the village when necessary. Sometimes more mundane than the den of vice and iniquity that Brother Mace claimed Wolfenden to be; sometimes far less mundane.

[Previous version: 2012-09-22 13:17:41]

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