Trade unionists, socialists, and peace campaigners took to the streets of Burford on Saturday for the annual Levellers Day procession.

About 600 people joined the traditional parade through the Cotswold town, before gathering at the church to lay wreathes and sing the Red Flag.

The event commemorated the execution in 1649 of three Leveller mutineers by Oliver Cromwell, following the English Civil War.

The men, who were refusing to fight a war in Ireland, were imprisoned and executed outside Burford Church.

The event, which has been held in the town for 28 years, is organised by the Workers Education Association (WEA) Oxford Levellers Branch, and also attracts environmentalists, Labour Party activists, and members of the Woodcraft Folk youth movement.

People from across the region and the country huddled in Warwick Hall garden in heavy rain, to listen to guest speakers, including the writer and former Labour MP Tony Benn, and the peace campaigner and former Roman Catholic priest Bruce Kent.

Marchers then followed a samba band and 'Roundhead' soldiers through the town's narrow lanes and down the High Street to church.

The crowd held a one-minute silence, and wreaths were laid in the church yard in memory of the Leveller martyrs.