This structure provides the scaffolding for all the content of the system to be taught and practised, along with the 10 Principles.
Types of Play
- Single, cooperative, and competitive: building in resistance to your intentions. Agonistic and Antagonistic.
- Fixed Plays & Free Plays: fixed plays are statistically common patterns of behaviour, common actions and reactions practised ritualistically to turn unstructured movement into habit.
Skillsets
Wrestling (Non-percussive, Unarmed): The curriculum begins with wrestling, teaching the basic techniques to use one’s body. It’s impossible to have good control of the body and a weapon if one doesn’t already have good control of the body. Once proficiency in wrestling is mastered, then the student moves to weaponry. Two styles originating from Cornwall and Devon, although both contain the same techniques, the strategy and tactics of the play are different. Wrestling is a Living tradition, still practised today.
Traditional plays:
- 2 positions (wide, narrow)
- 4 orientations (front-to-front, front-to-back, back-to-front, back-to-back)
- 4 hitches (collar, sleeve, sleeve-and-collar, sleeve-and-waist)
- 20 core techniques
- 10 fixed 2-person exercises
- 4 kicking routines
Short stick: Once you have learned wrestling, and had opportunities as a stickler, there is then a course in cudgelling. Cudgelling is the sport of using a walking stick. Later there is the introduction of another stick for Sword and Dagger practice. The 2 styles originated from Wiltshire and Somerset. Also known as Single stick / Cudgel / Backsword / Broadsword. This is a canonical tradition, having died out in the 1880s.
Canonical Plays
- 2 types of Play
- 3 blows
- 5 guards
- 10 fixed 2-person plays
Long staff:Cudgelling naturally ladders to the long staff, historically called the ‘quarterstaff’. Quarterstaffing is done in the manner of Joseph Swetnam, George Silver, George Hale and Zach Wylde. There are 2 core lengths of staff: Quarterstaff (up to 7 feet), and Long staff (up to 15 feet). Today, we primarily practise with the 7-foot version to keep practice simple.
- Elements
- 2 guards (half, quarter)
- 5 blows (Forehand, backhand, upwards, downwards, thrust)
- 5 wards (Hanging, St George, Inside, Outside, Middle)
- 10 fixed 2-person plays
- Long stick against Long stick (14 techniques)
Quarterstaffing is a ladder skill to Two-hand swordplay, practised in accordance with the lessons in the ‘Man yt Wol’ manuscript (Harleian MS.3542, c.1460), and expanded from the lessons provided in Continental schools of the same period. Originating from Honiton, Devon.
We use the pre-set training methods derived from this Canon.
- 3 guards
- 5 blows
- 10 fixed 1-person plays
- 15 fixed 2-person plays
Five Ranks
We use 5 ranks which provide a framework for progression. These ranks serve as milestones for training:
- Novice: Someone with no knowledge of Westcountry Martial Arts, either theoretically or practically.
- Student: A regular student who is building up their knowledge of Westcountry Martial Arts. The student is still building a picture of the full skills, as well as becoming physically proficient in the skills. Each technique has a proficiency rating. When all skills have reached a level of proficiency, then the student is ready for licensing.
- Licensed Student: The Licensed student is one who is no longer dependent upon instruction. All theoretical knowledge has been transferred, and now it is up to the student to become proficient and self-motivated to contribute to the subject. The ‘licence’ is an ancient concept of recognition, allowing one to go out and expand one’s learning based upon the knowledge from their teacher, plus looking back at historical sources, or finding new teachers from whom to round out their skills.
- Proficient / Coach: The proficient is a capable individual with proven expertise across the full range of skills. They may begin to Coach others to reach the same levels of capability.
- Master: A master is an individual who has been teaching and contributing to the field for a considerable amount of time and devoted a great deal of effort to share the skills with others. For this reason, the title of ‘Master’ is reserved in recognition of those who have made the biggest contributions. It is not, therefore, only a proficiency measure, but also a social measure.

Dimensions | |||
Level | Physical | Perceptual | Strategic |
Novice | Limited, rigid. | None. | None. |
Student | Technical capability. Applied in structured situations. | Limited. | All courses of action are separate and treated equally. |
Licenced student | Applied in unplanned situations with limited effectiveness. | Partial short-term/long-term. | Standardised, routinized patterns. |
Proficient / Coach | Applied in unplanned situations with limited effectiveness. | Holistic. Relies on rules, guidelines, maxims. | Laboured, uses maxims to interpret and navigate new situations. |
Master | Tacit knowledge, automatic function. | No longer relies on rules, guidelines, maxims. | Devises courses of actions that direct to goal. |