Who says Charles Dickens invented Christmas?

He didn’t invent carols — they came about when the medieval church decided to ban carousing during services, and hymn-singers were forced onto the streets. He didn’t invent Santa — the bearded wonder started life as King Winter, dressed in a crown and sat beside the Saxon hearth. Nor did he come up with the Christmas goose.

That came to us by order of Elizabeth I — it was the first meal she gobbled after seeing off the Armada.

You can unwrap these and many other secrets of Christmas past at a sackload of history-themed yuletide events up and down the country. There are medieval markets, Tudor mummers’ plays, Regency banquets, Victorian house parties and — yes, all right — Dickensian parades galore. They are staged in some of Britain’s most decorative towns, places such as Ulverston, Ludlow, Bury St Edmunds and Bath. Most offer character Christmas shopping and festive food. Many will be sluiced with eggnog, serenaded by carol singers and twinkly with candlelight, and all of them set out to give the season a real sense of occasion.

MEDIEVAL CHRISTMAS

HELMSLEY, North Yorkshire Medieval yuletide was in many respects a bad business. No gifts on Christmas Day (they were handed out on St Nicholas’s Day instead), and a seasonal beating for children on December 28, in memory of the slaughter of the innocents.

You’ll hear all about it at Helmsley Castle’s Christmas weekend, where Lady Katherine and her manservant, Tomas, will jest their way back to the festival’s beginnings. There are shows in the castle’s manor house at 11am and 1.30pm, and one lucky scamp from the audience will be chosen as the Lord of Misrule — a medieval tradition in which a servant was given licence to wreak mischief throughout the holiday.

Thirteenth-century Helmsley looks like the kind of castle every lad wants in his stocking — and while the kids are attacking the keep, parents can sneak off to the visitor centre to quaff mead and shop for politically incorrect presents such as damsels’ dresses and replica crossbows.

December 3-4, 10am-4pm; £4 for adults/£2 for children. Call 01439 770442 or visit www.english-heritage.org.uk

LUDLOW, Shropshire A storming Norman castle is not a bad bauble to have on top of your town, and lovely Ludlow makes the most of it next weekend, staging one of Britain’s biggest medieval Christmas bashes.

A monster craft fayre crowds inside the holly-decked ramparts on both Saturday and Sunday, flogging everything from medieval weapons to hand-painted pottery — swords to saucery. You can hardly move for minstrels, mummers and madcaps: the rolling programme of ye olde entertainment includes music from the Singing Plague Victims and have-a-go heraldry for youngsters. St Nicholas will be in his turret all weekend.

The event reaches a climax at 6pm on Saturday evening, with the full mustering of a medieval court, including shiny-suited knights who will compete for the title “champion of Ludlow”.

November 26-27, market 10am-4pm, medieval court 6-9pm on Saturday; £5.50/£3. Call 01584 875053 or visit www.ludlowcraftevents.co.uk. Spend the night at Overton Grange (01584 873500, www.overtongrangehotel.com; doubles £135, B&B)

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