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Hyde-Park, May I, [1654.] This day there was a hurling of a great ball, by fifty Cornish gentfemen on the one side, and fifty on the other : one party played in red caps and the other in white. There was present His HIGHNESS THE LORD PROTECTOR, many of his privy council, and divers eminent […]
“The Cornish are masters of the art of wrestling, so that, if the Olympic games were now in fashion, they would come away with the victory. Their hug is a cunning close with their combatants, the fruit whereof is his fair fall or foil at the least.” Fuller, T (1662). History of the Worthies of […]
19th February 1667: I saw a comedy acted at Court. In the afternoone I saw a wrestling-match for £1000 in St. James’s Park, before his Maty, a world of lords and other spectators, ‘twixt the Western; and Northern men, Mr. Secretary Morice and Lo. Gerard being the judges. The Western men won. Many greate sums were betted. Evelyn, […]
John Carey’s fencing manuscript (Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 5540, ff.122-123) is a fascinating window into the kinds of practice which was taking place in England at the end of the 17th century, around Bristol in the South West of England. Despite its potential importance, “It has never been printed…”, commented Aylward (156, 110), “…and it […]
Modernisation: Wrestling is a sport that relies on skill as much as strength. A skilled wrestler can throw an opponent even when they are not the strongest. Like all sports, wrestling has its own terminology, with names for each type of hold, trip, or technique. The main terms are as follows: Terms Used in […]
A Prize Quart Pewter Tankard, labelled: “Won at the Fighting Cocks, Plaistford, As a prize for Back Sword Play. ” The exact date is unknown, however the accredited metal worker, Thomas Easton, was active between 1675-1695, so it must’ve been produced during this period. It’s unknown when it was presented as a prize. Museum Number: […]
RULES The two Gamesters that wrestle shall be fairly chosen by lot. The two Gamesters will wrestle till one of them get three Falls, and that this wrestler will not be allowed anymore to compete for the Prize. It is ordered and agreed that a wrestler who will throw his opponent on two Joints at […]
A copy of the 1727 edition is currently in the collection of thhe Cornish Wrestling Association (CWA). This is core material for the DWS. We have an authoritative edition of Cornish Wrestling manual known as “Progymnastmata: In-play or the Cornish hug wrestler”, published in 4 editions of Sir Thomas Parkyns’ original work (1713, 1714, 1727, […]
TOMBSTONE IN MARY TAVY CHURCHYARD The following may be worth preserving in the Western Antiquary it is copied from a tombstone not in situ but stand ing on its edge by the side of the wall of the church at Mary Tavy The church having been restored the prob ability is that this stone was […]
I find that in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, we had of both Sorts that were excellent in their Way, and it is hard to say by which of the two we acquired the greatest Fame. Out-play Wrestlers did not shuffle, and dance about, and threaten, bur laid Hold, and never quited till they brought […]
THIS is to give Notice to all Gentlemen Gamesters, and Others, THAT on Thursday the 16th Instant, there will be a great Wrestling-Match at the Swan-Inn in Highworth, Wilts, between the Gamesters of Berkshire and Gloucestershire, for Ten Guineas on each Side: To wrestle for Falls; no Files to be allow’d of. Five Men of […]
THIS is to give Notice, THAT Mr. William Saunders, of the Saracen’s-Head at Highworth, Wilts, will give Two Guineas to be wrestled for, by the famous Berkshire Milk-Boy, and four other Berkshire Men, of his Company, against any other five Men in England, on Thursday the 30th Instant, October, for a Fall, or six Foils. […]
Poems on several occasions. By Nicholas James. 1742 “Prudently set the horseman’s habit by; the boot will freedom to thy leg deny, The cumbrous coat retard thy elbow’s sway. And on thy limbs an ill-tim’d pressure lay. Nor let thy vanity itself attest, Gayly expos’d in an embroider’d vest, Nor should the ruffled shirt be […]
THIS is to give Notice to all Gentlemen Gamesters, and Others, THAT there will be Three HATS, of Three Guineas Price, the free Gift of Abraham Golding and Robert Hobbs, at St. John’s-Bridge in Gloucestershire; One Hat, on Monday the 6th of September next, to be play’d for at Back-sword, by Five or Seven of […]
pp. 175 I mentioned before, how much I suspected a cove which had ftood near the manor-house in the north-west part of the knoll : this I would have dedicated to the element of Water, or particularly to the river flowing by, the Isca which I have shewn to be its Celtic name : and […]
MATCH RULES – 9 JUNE 1778 Particulars to be observed by the players at Wrestling for a Hat now to be played for as follows: 1st No persons to play for the said Hat who hath ever gain’d a Prize or share in a prize before. The man who throws the first fall is to […]
Duke Wyllyam gave commaunde, eche norman knights, That been war-token in a shielde so fine, Shoulde onward goe, and dare to closer fyghte. The Saxonne warryer that did so entwyne, Like the nesh bryon and the englantine, Or Cornish wrastlers at a hocktyde game. The Normannes, all emarchailld in a lyne, To the ourt arraie […]
BRADFORD, near TAUNTON, SOMERSET, May 8, 1780. TO BE PLAYED for at SWORD and DAGGER. (Somerset against the World.) On MONDAY, the 22d of MAY, To be PLAYED for at SWORD and DAGGER, at the Black-Lion Inn, in Bradford, near Taunton, Somerset, A Subscription Purse of Guineas. TUESDAY the 23d will be PLAYED for at […]
Advertisements from the Western Flying Post; or, Sherborne & Yeovil Mercury and General Advertiser, 2 June 1783. CORNWALL THIS is to give notice, that at the house of Mr. William Fry, the Rose and Crown, in Millbrook, near Plymouth, on the ninth day of June next, being Whitsun Monday, will be WRESTLED for, A Gold […]
Games at Maker Green, near Kingsand and Cawsand WRESTLING, CUDGELLING, &c. On Wednesday the 23d of June, and the two following days, will be held at the said place, GAMES for the purposes aforesaid, free for all gamesters who chuse to attend, and good encouragement will be given to the adventurers. The first day, the […]
(From Tasker’s Miscellanies, lately published.) Pale or wrestling was first introduced into the Olympic stadium in the eighteenth Olympiad: and Eurybatus, a Spartan, was the first who received the wrestlers crown; though, according to Plutarch, Theseus was the first who reduced this exercise into a science. One very remarkable difference between the ancient and modern […]
WRESTLING IN DEVON AND CORNWALL. Richard Polwhele’s Historical Views of Devonshire (1793) constitutes the first modern county history of Devon and provides the earliest sustained account of popular recreations—including wrestling—in the region at the close of the eighteenth century, predating all newspaper sources in the archive by approximately a decade. Polwhele observes that wrestling was […]
Har. How did you divert yourself ? Tim. Oh, we ha’ pastimes enow there :—we ha? bull-baiting, and cock-fighting, and fishing, and hunting, and hurling, and wrestling. Har. The two last are sports for which that country is very remarkable in those, 1 presume, you are very expert. 8 Tim, Nan! What? Har. 1 say […]
John Prowse, 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 Hercules. Besides this, he was upright as a dart, a grace he had acquired by having been some […]
An etching found in the British Museum (id: 1873,1108.218): Village scene, with two men standing on a square at centre, wrestling with their right arms, keeping their left arms behind their backs, surrounded by spectators; three men and a dog seated on the ground in foreground at left, next to a barrel and basket, and […]
…made it a regular custom to give their men servants a holiday on the Saturday afternoon, to take them to [the traditional wrestling field, called the ring-close], and yet to allow them their wages. As soon as ever dinner was finished, each master set out with his men to the ring; and there the latter […]
Joseph Strutt’s encyclopaedic survey of English sporting customs, published in 1801, contains an extended account of cudgelling, single-stick, and back-sword play as practised across England, with specific references to West Country practice. Strutt was a principal secondary authority for all subsequent sporting historians writing about these disciplines; the Badminton Library volumes and later manuals cite […]
Handwritten rules for Cudgel playing, from Wiveliscombe, Somerset. Articles of Play 1st best: The person that shall fairly break the greatest number of heads & save his own to receive 3 guineas & a half 2nd best: The person that shall fairly break the next greatest number of heads & save his own […]