Wrestling at Topsham (1895)

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 drop into conversation with a Cornishman on the Quay who had sailed into Topsham. Politics, of course, was the first subject dealt with. The Devon ventured the remark, “We’ve wrested some scats from ‘ee.” The Cornishman’s mind had for the moment left politics, and he retorted, “Wrested! I’d wrestle ‘ee for two gallons of beer.” This challenge was immediately taken up, and resulted as indicated above, much to the chagrin of the man of the land of pasties.