Goldsworthy, Somerset martial arts (1883)

Single Stick or Cudgel Playing is a very useful science, if learnt with the view of self preservation; but when practised as a game or amusement it is thoroughly brutal. The playing, as it was erroneously called, was conducted as follows Half-a-dozen casks were rolled on the Parade or some open place, on which were laid several wooden planks to form a platform, around which would gather the spectators. A man would then get upon it, take off his coat and hat, and flourish a stick around his head. Another fellow would throw his hat on the platform and do the same. They would then look at each other in the most amiable way imaginable, put themselves into an attitude of defence and try by every manœuvre possible to break each other’s head. Sticks would rattle and blows would be parried amidst noise laughter, cursing, and swearing, until one of them had his “head broken,” that is, until his scalp was laid open. The man so injured was taken down, half stunned with blood flowing over his face and neck and down his back. Another would get up, have his head cut open, be taken away to the nearest gutter have his head washed and tied up and then return as a spectator to look on at the playing with one eye. The victor, delighted at having broken the heads of two of his opponents, would brandish his stick and dance about the platform as merry as a cricket. His joy however was very often cut short by anothe,r and a better man mounting the platform. Fine play and great skill would now be shown by both parties, and each would be encouraged by his admirers. But the victor, who was so merry a few minutes before, was often soon laid on his back unconscious speechless and bleeding. Like his predecessors, he was taken to the gutter by his wife, sweetheart, or sister, where he was washed and restored by brandy. Many of these must have been seriously hurt, and suffered more or less afterwards: the blows on their heads and shoulders sounded very like striking with a stick a bole dish turned upside down. These amusements seldom ended without fights between the relations and friends of the players.

 

Wrestling was another amusement. The Devonshire wrestlers frequently came to Taunton to contend with men of the town and neighbourhood. Rab Channing and Tom Gainer were our local champions. Wrestling is a very healthy and useful exercise, but when the contest is carried on by kicking shins with hob-nailed and toe-tipt boots it becomes a very painful and dangerous amusement. I have seen men kicking away at each other’s shins until they were scarcely able to stand from pain and loss of blood; when they could not get at each other’s shins, each would try to lift his opponent bodily off his legs and dash him with great force to the ground. Boys of course imitated the men. The first thing a boy would do when he met another was to lay hold of him by the collar with both hands, and the other boy would do the same. “Will you try a fall?” says one.”Yes,” says the other. They then would try to throw each other, and in making the attempt very often rolled together into the gutter. At this period you would see more boys with bleeding noses in one week than you would see now in a year. If mothers of the present day were to see their boys at such rough games they would squall their heads off their shoulders.

From Goldsworthy. E.F. (1883). Recollections of Taunton by an old Tauntonian. Taunton: Barnicott & Son, Fore Street. Available online via Google Books, pp. 34-35.