Devonshire Wrastling and Wrastlers (1922)

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ACCORDING to the fictitious History of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Brutus the Trojan, with Corineus and other companions, landed at Totnes to take possession of the giant-haunted island which had been prophesied should be his own.

Then, forraging the Ile, long promis’d them before,
Amongst the ragged Cleeues those monstrous Giants sought:
Who (of their dreadful kind) t’ appall the Trojans, brought
Great Gogmagog, on Oake that by the roots could teare:
So mightie were (that time) the men who liued there:

But, for the vse of Armes he did not vnderstand
(Except some rock or tree, that comming next to hand
Hee raz’d out of the earth to execute his rage),
He chalenge makes for strength, and offereth there his gage,

Which Corin taketh vp, to answer by and by,
Vpon this sonne of Earth his vtmost power to try.
All doubtful to which part the victorie would goe,
Vpon that loftie place at Plinmouth, call’d the Hoe,
Those mightie Wrastlers met; with many an ireful looke
Who threatned, as the one hold of the other tooke:
But, grapled, glowing fire shines in their sparkling eyes.
And, whilst at length of arme one from the other lyes,
Their lusty sinewes swell like cables, as they strive:
Their feet such trampling make, as though they forc’t to drive
A thunder out of earth; which stagger’d with the weight:
Thus, eithers vtmost force vrg’d to the greatest height.
Whilst one vpon his hip the other seekes to lift,
And th’ adverse (by a turne) doth from his cunning shift,
Their short-fetcht troubled breath a hollow noise doth make,
Like bellowes of a Forge. Then Corin vp doth take
The Giant twixt the grayns; and voyding of his hould
(Before his combrous feet he well recouer could)
Pitcht head-long from the hill; as when a man doth throw
An Axtree, that with sleight deliuerd from the toe
Rootes vp the yeelding earth: so that his violent fall
Strooke Neptune with such strength, as shouldred him with-all;
That where the monstrous waues like Mountaines late did stand
They leap’t out of the place, and left the bared sand
To gaze vpon wide heauen: so great a blowe it gaue.
For which, the conquering Brute, on Corineus braue
This horne of land bestow’d, and markt it with his name;
Of Corin, Cornwall call’d to his immortall fame.

Drayton, Polyolbion.

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The Gog and Magog in the London Guildhall really represent these two wrastlers, Corineus and Gogmagog (or Goemagot). Geoffrey tells us further that the giant first broke three of Corin’s ribs, “two on the right side and one on the left,” and that the place from which he was flung was afterwards known as Lamgoemagot, to wit, Goemagot’s Leap, “and is called by that name unto this present day.” Carew, writing at the beginning of the 17th century, says:

“Moreover upon the Hawe at Plimouth, there is cut out in the ground the pourtraytyre of two men, the one bigger, the other lesser, with clubbes in their hands (whom they terme Gog Magog), and (as I have learned) renewed by order of the Townesmen when cause requireth, which should inferre the same to be a monument of some moment.”

This is confirmed from the Corporation records, which give entries relating to the re-cutting and renewal of these figures from time to time. In 1567 eightpence was paid for the purpose. This interesting memorial of antiquity was destroyed when the Citadel was built, about 1670.

Whether or not it was, as Carew suggests, derived from “that graund wrastler Corineus,” Devonshire wrestling (or wrastling, as it was sometimes called) is now a thing of the past, although in former days it was the favourite sport in the county, and Devonshire wrastlers were famous throughout the whole of England. Great was the rivalry between the men of Devon and those of Cornwall, and many heroic contests between the champions of these neighbouring counties have been recorded in print.

The Rev. Richard Warner, in his Walk through the Western Counties of England in 1799, gives an interesting account of his meeting one of these wrestlers at Hartland. “John Prowse,” he says, “who had now taken me under his protection, was a good specimen of the North-Devon peasant; lively and intelligent, stout and muscular, nearly six feet high, and with shoulders that would not have disgraced an Hercules. Besides this, he was upright as a dart, a grace he had acquired by having been some time in Colonel Orchard’s volunteer fencibles. As men are usually most attached to that art, pursuit or employment in which they most excel, so John’s only passion pointed towards wrestling, or as he called it, in the dialect of the country, wras-tling; which he confessed to me he loved better than victuals or drink. Living near the confines of Cornwall, he burned with all the emulation of a borderer, and observed triumphantly, that the Devonians were at last confessed to be better men than their neighbours; for in a great wrestling-match, held at a Cornish town in the vicinity, a short time since, every Devonshire lad had thrown his Cornish antagonist, without receiving a single fall himself. He asserted it was the prettiest play he had ever

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seen; and on my asking him whether any accidents had occurred in the course of these amusements, he answered, ‘nothing to speak of, only three ribs broken and a shoulder dislocated’!”

Generally, the Devon play differed from the Cornish in that kicking was allowed, as in the days of Homer, but in the inter-county contests this advantage was often waived. The wrestling dress peculiar to the West Country consisted of breeches or trousers and a wrestling jacket, the only part of the dress by which a hold, or as it was technically a hitch, could be got by the rules of the play. The jacket was short and loose, made of untearable linen stuff, and had loose sleeves, reaching nearly to the wrist. Wrestlers wore nothing else, except worsted stockings, and in Devonshire shoes, soaked in bullock’s blood and baked at a fire, making them hard as iron. Three men were appointed as sticklers to watch the players and act as umpires, and decide, in the case of a fall, whether it was a fair back or not. For a fair back both shoulders and one hip must touch the ground at the same time, or both hips and one shoulder.”

The greatest of all Devonshire wrestlers was Abraham Cann, who was born in 1794, and was the son of Robert Cann, a farmer and maltster of Colebrook. One of his chief contests was on 21st September, 1826, at the Eagle Tavern, City Road, London, when he defeated James Warren of Redruth, although placed at a disadvantage by having to play without his proper and accustomed weapons, the indurared shoes. A writer in the London Magazine of that date says:

“The difference in the style of wrestling of these two neighbouring shires, is as remarkable as that of the lineaments of their inhabitants. The florid chubby-faced Devon-man is all life and activity in the ring, holding himself erect, and offering every advantage to his opponent. The sallow-sharp-featured Cornwall-man is all caution and resistance, bending himself in such a way that his legs are inaccessible to his opponent, and waiting for the critical instant, when he can spring in upon his impatient adversary.”

The account then proceeds as follows:  “The contest between Abraham Cann and Warren, not only displayed this difference of style, but was attended with a degree of suspense between skill and strength, that rendered it extremely interesting. The former, who is the son of a Devonshire farmer, has been backed against any man in England for 500£. His figure is of the finest athletic proportions, and his arm realizes the muscularity of ancient specimens; his force in it is surprising; his hold is like that of a vice, and with ease he can pinion the arms of the strongest adversary, if he once grips them, and keep them as close together, or as far asunder, as he chooses. He stands with

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legs apart, his body quite upright, looking down good humouredly on his crouching opponent. In this instance, his opponent Warren, a miner, was a man of superior size, and of amazing strength, not so well distributed however, throughout his frame; his arms and body being too lengthy in proportion to their bulk. His visage was harsh beyond measure, and he did not disdain to use a little craft with eye and hand, in order to distract his adversary’s attention. But he had to deal with a man as collected as ever entered the ring. Cann put in his hand as quietly as if he were going to seize a shy horse, and at length caught a slight hold between finger and thumb of Warren’s sleeve. At this, Warren flung away with the impetuosity of a surprised horse. But it was in vain; there was no escape from Cann’s pinch, so the miner seized his adversary in his turn, and at length both of them grappled each other by the arm and breast of the jacket. In a trice Cann tripped his opponent with the toe in a most scientific but ineffectual manner, throwing him clean to the ground, but not on his back, as required. The second heat began similarly, Warren stooped more, so as to keep his legs out of Cann’s reach, who punished him for it by several kicks below the knee, which must have told severely if his shoes had been on, according to his county’s fashion. They shook each other rudely—strained knee to knee—forced each other’s shoulders down, so as to overbalance the body — but all ineffectually. They seemed to be quite secure from each other’s efforts, as long as they but held by the arm and breast-collar, as ordinary wrestlers do. A new grip was to be effected. Cann liberated one arm of his adversary to seize him by the cape behind: at that instant Warren, profiting by his inclined posture, and his long arms, threw himself round the body of the Devon champion, and fairly lifted him a foot from the ground, clutching him in his arms with the grasp of a second Antaeus. The Cornish men shouted aloud, “Well done, Warren!” to their hero, whose naturally pale visage glowed with the hope of success. He seemed to have his opponent at his will, and to be fit to fling him, as Hercules flung Lycas, any how he pleased. Devonshire then trembled for its champion, and was mute. Indeed it was a moment of heart-quaking suspense. But Cann was not daunted; his countenance expressed anxiety, but not discomfiture. He was off terra-firma, clasped in the embrace of a powerful man, who waited but a single struggle of his to pitch him more effectually from him to the ground. Without straining to disengage himself, Cann with unimaginable dexterity glued his back firmly to his opponent’s chest, lacing his feet round the other’s knee-joints, and throwing one arm backward over Warren’s shoulder, so as to keep his own enormous shoulders pressed upon the breast of his uplifter. In this position

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they stood at least twenty seconds, each labouring in one con-tinuous strain to bend the other, one backwards, the other for-wards. Such a struggle could not last. Warren, with the weight of the other upon his stomach and chest, and an in-conceivable stress upon his spine, felt his balance almost gone, as the energetic movements of his countenance indicated. His feet too were motionless by the coil of his adversary’s legs round his; so to save himself from falling backwards, he stiffened his whole body from the ankles upwards, and these last being the only liberated joints, he inclined forwards from them, so as to project both bodies, and prostrate them in one column to the ground together. It was like the slow and poising fall of an undermined tower. You had time to contemplate the injury which Cann the undermost would sustain if they fell in that solid, unbending posture to the earth. But Cann ceased bearing upon the spine as soon as he found his supporter going in an adverse direction. With a presence of mind unratteable, he relaxed his strain upon one of his adversary’s stretched legs, forcing the other outwards with all the might of his foot, and pressing his elbow upon the opposite shoulder. This was suffi-cient to whisk his man undermost the instant he unstiffened his knee—which Warren did not do until more than half way to the ground, when from the acquired rapidity of the falling bodies nothing was discernible. At the end of the fall, Warren was seen sprawling on his back, and Cann whom he had liberated to save himself, had been thrown a few yards off on all-fours. Of course the victory should have been adjudged to this last. When the partial referee was appealed to, he decided that it was not a fair fall, as only one shoulder had bulged the ground, though there was evidence on the back of Warren that both had touched it pretty rudely. After much debating a new referee was appointed, and the old one expelled; when the candidates again entered the lists. The crowning beauty of the whole was, that the second fall was precisely a counterpart of the other. Warren made the same move, only lifting his antagonist higher, with a view to throw the upper part of his frame out of play. Cann turned himself exactly in the same manner, using much greater effort than before, and apparently more put to it, by his opponent’s great strength. His escape, however, in upsetting his supporter was more easy, as Warren went to the ground when not much beyond perpendicular, so that Cann’s fall was broken, and at the close he was seen uppermost, still coiled round his supine adversary, who admitted the fall, starting up, and offering his hand to the victor. He is a good wrestler too—so good, that we much question the authority of “The Times” for saying that he is not one of the crack wrestlers of Cornwall. From his amazing strength, with common skill he should be a first-rate

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man at this play, but his skill is much greater than his country-men seemed inclined to admit. Certain it is, they destined him the first prize, and had Cann not come, to save the honour of his county, for that was his only inducement, the four prizes, by judiciously matching the candidates, would no doubt have been given to natives of Cornwall.”

Cann then challenged James Polkinghorne, the champion of Cornwall, who was a publican at St. Columb Major, and the match took place on Tamar Green, Morice Town, Plymouth, on 23rd October in the same year, in presence of 17,000 spectators. Polkinghorne was 6 ft. 2 in. high, and weighed 220 lb., where-as Cann was only 5 ft. 8½ high, and weighed 175 lb. This time Cann wore either one or two shoes, but the result was inconclusive. It was said that Polkinghorne, thinking he had won two back-falls, left the field, but the umpires disallowed the second, and the stakes were awarded to Cann through his opponent’s default. Many attempts were made to bring them together again, but without effect. Each had a wholesome dread of the other. Cann, however, continued as a mighty wrestler, and won other victories, notably one over Frost, a moorman of Aveton Gifford. According to an excellent account of a wrestling match in Blackmore’s Clara Vaughan, Cann’s particular trick in wrestling became known as “Abraham Cann’s staylace.”

Among other renowned wrestlers of Devon may be mentioned James Cann, the champion’s brother, Thorne of Widdecombo-in-the-Moor, Johnny Jordan and Flower, Jackman and William Wreford, Thomas Balkwill and James Stone, Huxtable and Rogers, Chappell and Tom Cooper, Sam Rundle and Carkeek, Miller and Parminter, Simon Webber and Bawden the mole-catcher.

A Wrestler’s Epitaph.

AT Marytavy, in the churchyard, is the tombstone of John Hawkins, blacksmith, 1721:—

Here buried were some years before,

His two wives and five children more:
One Thomas named, whose fate was such
To lose his life by wrestling much.
Which may a warning be to all
How they into such pastimes fall.

BARING-GOULD, Devonshire Characters.

Bibliography of quoted sources:

1. Drayton, Michael. “Polyolbion.” [A topographical poem describing Great Britain, first published 1612]
2. Geoffrey of Monmouth. “History of Britain.” [Referred to as “fictitious” in the text, likely referring to “Historia Regum Britanniae” written c. 1136]
3. Carew, Richard. [Unnamed work, but identified as writing “at the beginning of the 17th century” – likely “The Survey of Cornwall” published in 1602]
4. Warner, Rev. Richard. “Walk through the Western Counties of England.” [Published 1799]
5. Anonymous writer. Article in the “London Magazine.” [From 1826, specifically about the match between Abraham Cann and James Warren]
6. Anonymous writer. Article in “The Times.” [Date unspecified, mentioned as commenting on Warren not being among the “crack wrestlers of Cornwall”]
7. Blackmore, R.D.. “Clara Vaughan.” [Novel published in 1864, contains an account of wrestling that mentions “Abraham Cann’s staylace” technique]
8. Baring-Gould, Sabine. “Devonshire Characters.” [Contains the wrestler’s epitaph, published c. 1908]

The article also mentions but doesn’t directly quote:

• Plymouth Corporation records (regarding the Gog and Magog figures)
• Homer (in reference to kicking being allowed in wrestling)