WRESTLING. TO be WRESTLED for, at Topsham, on Monday, September the 9th, 1811, a PURSE of SEVEN POUNDS. The best man will receive three pounds, the second best one pound ten shillings, and the winner of the first fall five shillings. The remainder of the money will be divided amongst the next best players, in […]
The Topsham Annual Wrestling Match commenced in the Bowling-Green, at the Salutation Inn, on Monday forenoon, and was not concluded until near three o’clock this morning. There were 14 double-players, and many of the matches were strongly contested. The 1st and 2d prizes were won by Abraham and James Cann, of Cheriton-Bishop, and the 3d […]
The Topsham Annual Wrestling Match commenced in the Bowling-Green, at the Salutation Inn, on Monday forenoon, and was not concluded until near three o’clock this morning. There were 14 double-players, and many of the matches were strongly contested. The 1st and 2d prizes were won by Abraham and James Cann, of Cheriton-Bishop, and the 3d […]
GRAND WRESTLING FOR TWENTY-FIVE SOVEREIGNS. TO be WRESTLED FOR, in the BOWLING-GREEN of the SALUTATION INN, TOPSHAM, (Fair Back Falls,) on Monday the 20th of June, the Capital Prize of Fifteen Sovereigns, Seven of which will be given to the Best Man, And on the Following Day, A Purse of Ten Sovereigns, Five of which […]
WRESTLING. TO be WRESTLED FOR, at PAIGNTON, on Thursday & Friday the 22d & 23d of June, a PURSE of 20 SOVEREIGNS; Of which, the Best Man will receive, Six Pounds,—Second Ditto, Four,—Third, Three,—Fourth, One. Sixteen Standards will be made, all of whom will have a Dinner. Fair Play, which commences at Ten o’Clock precisely, […]
TWENTY-FIVE SOVEREIGNS. FAIR BACK FALLS. TOPSHAM Annual GRAND WRESTLING MATCH, for the above PRIZE, will take place in the Bowling Green of the SALUTATION INN, (subject to such conditions as will then be produced). On Monday and Tuesday, the 9th and 10th day of July next. The play to commence by eight o’clock in the […]
WRESTLING.—The Topsham match commenced on Monday last. On the first day, neither the play nor the appearance of the ring would bear a comparison with what has often been seen at this place; but the next morning ample amends was made for the disappointment of the preceding day, by the tumbling in of some prime […]
TOPSHAM, NEAR EXETER, DEVON. GRAND WRESTLING MATCH for FORTY GUINEAS, OPEN TO ALL ENGLAND, is now proceeding in the well-known Bowling Green at the Salutation Inn. Efficient and Impartial Triers have been appointed to act with the Committee. 1st Prize £15 0s 0d; 2nd Prize £10 0s 0d; 3rd Prize £5 0s 0d; 4th Prize […]
20th August 1895: That was a capital little wrestling match which came off in the marsh at Topsham a few days since. The police were in the dark until it was all over. The match was locally known as Devon versus Cornwall, and resulted in a victory for Devon. One of Topsham’s celebrities happened to […]
The Devonshire Wrestling Society archive has been assembled over more than twelve years of systematic research into the history of Westcountry martial arts. When this work began, the documentary record was sparse and dispersed: sources were few, descriptions were thin, and access required navigating institutional barriers that most researchers would not have the time or resources to overcome. The archive now comprises 421 records — 322 newspaper articles (1778–1947), 35 manuscripts, 11 posters, 48 books, one letters patent, two cemetery inscriptions, and two memorials — spanning approximately one thousand years of history across five defined periods and three core disciplines: wrestling, cudgelling, and pugilism.
The material has been drawn from archives, museums, and libraries at both local and national level, as well as from diaspora communities. Access varied considerably: some holdings were straightforwardly available through public or gated online repositories; others required direct institutional inquiry, formal licensing, or payment. Licence fees for individual items have, in some cases, reached several hundred pounds. Items acquired under licence are retained for private research purposes only and are not published. A small number of items from private collections likewise remain unpublished, pending permission. All records for which publication rights have been secured are made freely and openly available.
The cost of the archive — in time and in money — has been substantial. It is offered without charge because the traditions it documents belong to the communities that produced them, and because those who come after should not be required to repeat the effort already expended.
Every record in the archive was acquired through a consistent five-stage process:
Identification. Awareness of potential sources was established through systematic searches of public and private institutional indexes worldwide, and through direct correspondence with subject specialists already engaged with relevant holdings.
Access. Depending on the institution, access was obtained through online repositories, direct application, or formal licensing. Correspondence was initiated with several hundred institutions over the course of the project. Where institutions confirmed the absence of relevant holdings, this was recorded. Where access was granted, the means of access was documented.
Storage. All acquired material is held in a single centralised repository, ensuring that research access is permanent and that no duplication of acquisition effort is necessary.
Preparation. Every record has been transcribed to render it fully searchable and taggable. Images have been assigned metadata recording provenance, licensing terms, and resolution specifications for publication purposes.
Publication. The publicly available inventory represents all records for which the requisite permissions have been obtained.
In order to ensure consistency and intellectual coherence across the archive, all prospective additions are evaluated against the following criteria, which are applied collectively and in sequence. A record should satisfy the majority of these criteria before inclusion is considered.
Relevance. The record must have a demonstrable and direct connection to the Six Shires (Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Dorset, Gloucestershire, and Wiltshire) as the location of practice, the origin of practitioners, or the primary institutional context. Records concerning Westcountry practitioners competing elsewhere (in London, the United States, or South Africa, for example) are eligible where the practitioner’s regional identity is explicitly identified in the source. Records documenting the export of Westcountry martial arts beyond Britain are admissible and desirable, consistent with existing holdings relating to California, Japan, New Zealand, and South Africa. The record must concern one or more of the three disciplines in scope: Westcountry wrestling (Devonshire or Cornish style), cudgelling or single-stick as practised in the region, or pugilism and boxing with a demonstrable Westcountry connection. Records documenting the co-occurrence of two or more disciplines are particularly valuable and should be prioritised.
Integrity. The source must be primary or a reliable early secondary record. For newspaper sources, this means a contemporaneous report; for books, a first or early edition, or a verified transcription thereof. Secondary scholarship is admissible where it contains primary-source quotations not otherwise independently accessible, provided these are clearly identified as such.
Balanced representation. The curatorial target is approximate parity — not of record count, which will inevitably reflect the uneven survival of evidence — but of intellectual representation across the three core disciplines. Where any discipline is underrepresented relative to this target, acquisitions in that discipline should be prioritised accordingly.
Material culture. Physical objects — trophies, belts, equipment, and architectural features — are admissible where they carry inscriptions or documentary provenance that independently attest to the practice of a discipline in the region.
Verifiability. The source must be identifiable with sufficient bibliographic precision to be cited in APA format and, where possible, to be independently verified by a reader consulting the original. Oral tradition, undocumented folklore, and secondary paraphrases without citation do not meet this standard. Where a source is available online, a direct URL must be provided.
