…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 […]
GAMES, PASTIMES, and DIVERSIONS, ON THE ANTIENT CASTLE OF PLYMPTON, DEVON. ON Tuesday the 15th of July, 1806, and the following day, (viz.) WRESTLING FOR A PURSE OF GUINEAS, FIRST MAN ………….. £5 5s. 0d. SECOND ……………. £1 1s. 0d. Every other STANDER, each 5s. 0d. CUDGEL-PLAYING FOR A SILVER CUP, VALUE AT LEAST £2 […]
WRESTLING. TO be WRESTLED for, on Monday next the 14th of July instant, at the Cat and Fiddle, in the parish of Sowton, Devon, a PURSE of FIVE GUINEAS. The play to begin precisely at two o’clock in the afternoon. Dated Sowton, near Exeter, July 7, 1806.
TAVISTOCK RACES. ON WEDNESDAY July the 8th, will be RUN FOR, over Whitchurch Down, a FIFTY POUND PLATE. A GOLD-LACED HAT to be WRESTLED FOR. COCKING, as usual. No booth or stand to be erected on Whitchurch Down, except by subscription. BALLS and ORDINARIES each DAY. Tavistock, 29th May, 1807.
GAMES, PASTIMES, and DIVERSIONS, On the antient CASTLE of PLYMPTON, Devon. ON Tuesday and Wednesday, the 14th and 15th of July, 1807, (viz.) WRESTLING for a PURSE of GUINEAS, First Man ……………. £7 7s. 0d. Second ……………… £2 2s. 0d. Every other Stander, each …….. 7s. 0d. CUDGEL-PLAYING for a SILVER CUP, Value at least […]
SINGLE-STICK PLAYING. A MATCH of Single-stick playing, between Davis and Harding, two Hampshire men, and Goddard and Phillips, from Wiltshire, took place on Tuesday the 3d instant, at Swallowfield, Berks, for 25gs. a side, amidst as great a concourse of people as usually assemble on such (pp. 81.) such occasions. Davis and Goddard first mounted […]
SOMERSETSHIRE. A grand match of single-stick, Somerset against all England, took place at Frome a few days since, and afforded much excellent sport: it was truly a feast for the amateurs of that manly exercise. The principal object of this match was to afford the Somerset and Wiltshire gamesters an opportunity ot displaying their prowess. […]
CREDITON, Devon. TO be SOLD in FEE, by public auction, in two lots, on Monday the third day of October next, at the Half Moon Inn, in Crediton, at five o’clock in the afternoon, subject to such conditions as will be then and there produced. Lot 1.—All that meadow or close of land, called the […]
TO WRESTLERS. TO be WRESTLED for, on Wednesday and Thursday, the 24th and 25th days of May instant, in a Field adjoining the town of Crediton, Devon, the annual Prize of TWENTY GUINEAS, Ten Guineas of which, as usual, will be given to the best man, and the remainder distributed among the other players getting […]
THE SPORTING MAGAZINE. VOL. XXXV. DECEMBER, 1809. N°. CCVII. SINGLE-STICK. WITH AN ENGRAVING. [This is the engraving by Wheble, Somersetshire Gamesters (1810)] WE have been favoured not only with a drawing, from which this Engraving is taken, but likewise with an article on the Game of Backsword or Single-Stick, which follows. The subject is likewise […]
An etching held at the British Museum (id: 1849,0210.107): Two young man playing fencing; illustration to ‘The Sporting Magazine’ vol.35. 1810. Etching and engraving © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.
CREDITON ANNUAL WRESTLING. THE prize of TWENTY GUINEAS will be WRESTLED for on TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY the 19th and 20th days of June next, in a field adjoining the town. Ten Guineas of which will be played for, and distributed on the Tuesday, and the remaining Ten Guineas on the Wednesday; Five Guineas of which, […]
Four notes for the archive record: First, “Trowbridge in Somersetshire” (p. 93) is an error: Trowbridge is in Wiltshire. Second, the Hampshire place is printed inconsistently — “Rapley Dean” on p. 94 and “Ropley Dean” on p. 95 — and refers to Ropley, Hampshire (the green at Ropley Dean). Third, “waiscoat” (waistcoat) and “taylor” (tailor) […]
CREDITON ANNUAL WRESTLING. THE prize of TWENTY GUINEAS will be WRESTLED for on TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY the 19th and 20th days of June next, in a field adjoining the town. Ten Guineas of which will be played for, and distributed on the Tuesday, and the remaining Ten Guineas on the Wednesday; Five Guineas of which, […]
CREDITON WRESTLING, 1811. THE Annual Prize of TWENTY GUINEAS will be WRESTLED FOR this year on the WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY in WHITSUN-WEEK: Ten Guineas of which will be played for and distributed on the Wednesday; and the remaining Ten Guineas on the Thursday.— Five Guineas of which, on each day, will be given to the […]
CREDITON WRESTLING, 1811. THE Annual Prize of TWENTY GUINEAS will be WRESTLED FOR this year on the WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY in WHITSUN-WEEK: Ten Guineas of which will be played for and distributed on the Wednesday; and the remaining Ten Guineas on the Thursday.— Five Guineas of which, on each day, will be given to the […]
EXETER GRAND WRESTLING MATCH. TO be WRESTLED FOR, on MONDAY next, the 29th of July instant, in a Field, adjoining the Black Boy Turnpike, St. Sidwell’s, a PURSE of TEN GUINEAS. To the best Man, FIVE GUINEAS. Second best ditto, TWO GUINEAS. Third best ditto, ONE GUINEA. To every Double Player, 5s. each; and 7s. […]
WRESTLING. ON Wednesday and Thursday, the 4th and 5th of September next, (being the Tavistock and Plymouth Races,) there will be WRESTLING on Whitchurch Down, for a PURSE of TEN GUINEAS. The best man will be entitled to Seven Guineas; the second-best man Two Guineas; and the third-best One Guinea; with good encouragement to every […]
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 […]
Hen Pearce, born in Bristol in 1777, rose to become the undisputed Champion of England from 1804 until his retirement through ill health in 1807. Before his rise to national prominence, Pearce had defeated a series of opponents across the West Country fight scene. Pierce Egan’s Boxiana (1812) records his matches in detail, establishing Pearce […]
EXETER GRAND WRESTLING MATCH. TO be WRESTLED for, on Monday and Tuesday the 27th and 28th of July instant, in a field adjoining the Black Boy Turnpike, A PURSE of TWENTY GUINEAS,—TEN GUINEAS each day. To the man who throws the first fall, Seven Shillings. To every double player, Five Shillings each. The players are […]
EXETER GRAND WRESTLING MATCH. TO be WRESTLED for, on Monday and Tuesday the 27th and 28th of July instant, in a field adjoining the Black Boy Turnpike, A PURSE of TWENTY GUINEAS,—TEN GUINEAS each day. To the man who throws the first fall, Seven Shillings. To every double player, Five Shillings each. The players are […]
WRESTLING.—The champion Flower, who carried off the best prize on the first day of the Exeter Wrestling, was thrown at King’s Nympton on Thursday last, by Robert Beal, of George Nympton. He had been in the habit of carrying off the prize from the above place for several years past, there never being any players […]
The athletic exercise to which these people are mostly addicted is that of wrestling. This is pursued with great fervour and emulation by the young farmers and peasantry in the country It is common on these occasions for a purse of six eight or ten guineas to be made by gentlemen fond of promoting this […]
EXETER GRAND WRESTLING MATCH. THE ANNUAL PRIZE of TWENTY GUINEAS, will be WRESTLED for this year, on Wednesday and Thursday, the 4th and 5th of August next. The play to begin precisely at seven o’clock in the morning. The usual encouragement will be given to players. Exeter, 21st July, 1813.
The Wrestling Match at Chawleigh, Devon, last week, afforded much sport, most of the matches being strongly contested. The prizes were won by Smith, of Swimbridge, and Totty, of Meshaw. The latter threw the champion Flower, a most tremendous fall, whom he fairly raised above ground by mere strength of arm.
TO be WRESTLED FOR, at the Butchers’ Arms Inn, in Chulmleigh, a PRIZE of FIVE GUINEAS, on Tuesday the 9th day of August next, precisely by ten o’clock in the forenoon; the first man that gets a share before eleven o’clock to have half-a-guinea, the best man to have two guineas, and all gentlemen wrestlers […]
EXETER GRAND WRESTLING MATCH. TO be WRESTLED FOR, on Wednesday and Thursday the 10th and 11th of August instant, in a Field adjoining the Black Boy Turnpike, A PURSE of TEN GUINEAS. To every double player Five Shillings. The play to begin at eight o’clock in the morning. The players are requested to give in […]
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.
