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On Tueſday being the fift day of Auguſt, and the great feſtiuall for our Kinges Maieſties preſeruation from Gowries treaſons : The Kinges Maieſtie of Denmarke ran at the Tilt in perſon, and diuers other noble perſonages; where his Maieſtie expreſt an able and induring bodie, how it was gouernd by an invincible mind, inricht […]
In Henry VIII’s reign, at a festival at Greenwich, several champions stood forth to contend with all comers at wrestling “in all manner of ways.” There is, however, much reason to suppose that neither then, nor for a long time after, did any of those ” manners ” include the Devonshire style ; for about […]
Single Stick or Cudgel Playing is a very useful science, if learnt with the view of self preservation; but when practised as a game or amusement it is thoroughly brutal. The playing, as it was erroneously called, was conducted as follows Half-a-dozen casks were rolled on the Parade or some open place, on which were […]
An indirect reference to Devon Wrestling in reference to shin injuries and conditions of disease (not caused by Wrestling, but by other ailments): Now in Devonshire especially, a habit prevails of kicking shins in wrestling. In this gymnastic exercise, two men collar each other, and kick each other’s legs; whosoever throws his opponent first on […]
(pp175) The difference between Devon and Cornish wrestling consists in this, that in a Devon wrestle kicking is admissible ; but then, as a protection to their shins, the antagonists have their legs wreathed with haybands (vulgo skillibegs). As the legs were on this occasion unprotected, Devon wrestling was inadmissible. Both fashions were in vogue […]
35 references to Wrestling, including: Much as I longed to know more about Lorna, and though all my heart was yearning, I could not reconcile it yet with my duty to mother and Annie, to leave them on the following day, which happened to be a Sunday. For lo, before breakfast was out of our […]
THE CORNISH AND DEVONSHIRE METHODS. The principal difference between these methods is, that kicking the shins is a part of the Devonshire and not of the Cornish. The Devonshire men, therefore, wrestle with their shoes on, in order not to break their toes in kicking; and each takes advantage of this to bake the soles of his shoes, and thereby […]
Reprinted in 1990 by the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies. Original date is unknown. Written by Bryan H. Kendall, descriptions by Bernard Chapman, Harry Gregory, Thomas John Cundy. Illustrated by Alexander (‘Sandy’) Anderson. Foreword by J.B Hooper. Covers techniques, rules, and some background.Photography of sportsman also included. This is taken from a copy in the […]
Fictional account, but with key references made by the novelist R. D. Blackmore that drew upon real events, and real wrestlers of the period: Volume 2, Chapter 5: CHAPTER V. That same evening, as I was sitting in my lonely room, yet not quite alone,–for little Sally, who always did as I bade her, was […]
(pp148) SINGLE-STICK, a slender, round stick of ash about 34 in. long and thicker at one end than the other, used as a weapon of attack and defence, the thicker end being thrust through a cup-shaped hilt of basket-work to protect the hand. The original form of the single-stick was the ‘‘waster”, which appeared in […]
(pp167)…Joe beckoned me in, and I went round to the back of the table and looked on. As the men came up from the group round the door, when their names were called out, the umpires said a few words to each of them and then gave them their prizes, and most of them made […]
Single-stick and Cudgels. [To Mr. Hone.] I do not observe that you notice the yearly village sports of Single-stick playing and Cudgelling, in your Year-Book. — You may know, perhaps, that the inhabitants of many of the villages in the vrestern counties, not having a fair or other merry-making to collect a fun-seeking money – […]
(pp99) Among the places in which preaching was regularly established were the villages of Landkey and Swymbridge. In these parishes, the presentation to which is vested in the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, the tithes had fallen into the hands of a lay impropriator, and “ duty ” of both churches was at that time […]
(pp355) Every bit as savage as bare-knuckle boxing was the ancient sport of Devon Wrestling, One of the last champions was Abraham Cann, who was nicknamed the Devon Hercules. In this painting by Henry Caunter (c. 1846), Cann is evoked as the last great exponent of the dying art of wrestling according to the brutal […]
(pp385) On the night appointed, I hid behind a tree at the arranged spot, ready to spring to the rescue and help the old lion ; my loafers lurked in the shade of a wall. He came in the starlight — a grand figure of an old warlock, just merry enough to feel the blood […]
(pp35) Prize-fighting was then the order of the day ; and a set-to between two professionals of celebrity would bring together men of all ranks, patricians and proletarians, from the most remote parts of England, to witness what it would have been heresy then to call a barbarous exhibition. The vale of Bicester, being […]
Swetnam was a prominent Fencing Master from Bristol, who was The Master of Defence in Plymouth for many years. This is core material within the DWS. Full modernised version by the DWS, currently being prepared. THE SCHOOLE OF THE NOBLE And Worthy Science of Defence. Being the first of any English-mans invention, which professed the […]
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, […]
A personal account of a combat between Richard Peeke (Tavistock, Devon), and three Spanish rapiermen. The event happened on 15th November 1625. Peeke documented his account in July 1626. Three-to-One: Being an English-Spanish combat performed by a Western Gentleman of Tavistock in Devonshire, with an English quarterstaff, against three Spaniards [ at once ] with […]
THE WRESTLERS : ——————-a mutual yoke of hands, Dragging with arms and elbow – joints in intertwisted bands; And in their clasp reciprocal they lifted from the ground Each other’s body, snatched in air, descending round and round; A double pleasure thus employ’d th’ Olympian dweller’s mind, Lifting and lifted thus by turns upon the […]
Chapter XIII Wrestling Wrestling had become one of the least practised of our old English sports, till the recent revival of the art as a music-hall “turn” — a use for which it was particularly well adapted, inasmuch as a Wrestling Match never fails to hold the interest of the spectator from first to last […]
“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 […]
THE MYTH OF BRUTUS THE TROJAN. By the late R. N. Worth, F.G.S., etc. rutus, son of Sylvius, grandson of Æneas the Trojan, killed his father while hunting, was expelled from Italy, and settled in Greece. Here the scattered Trojans, to the number of seven thousand, besides women and children, placed themselves under his command, […]
Part 16: The island was then called Albion, and inhabited by none but a few giants. Notwithstanding this, the pleasant situation of the places, the plenty of rivers abounding with fish, and the engaging prospect of its woods, made Brutus and his company very desirous to fix their habitation in it. They therefore passed through all the provinces, […]
The men of dSurrey, Cheeky Blew and gold, (Which for braue Warren their first Earle they wore, In many a Field that honour’d was of olde:) And Hamshere next in the same Colours bore, Three Lions Passant, th’ Armes of Beuis bould, Who through the World so famous was of yore; A siluere Tower, Dorsets Red […]
Book 1, Page 1: Cornwall, the fartheſt Shire of England Weſtwards, hath her name by diuers Authors diverſly deriued. Some (as our owne Chroniclers) draw it from Corineus, couſin to Brute, the first Conqueror of this Iland : who wrastling at Plymmouth (as they say) with a mightie Giant, called Gogmagog, threw him ouer Cliffe, […]
We have read of his Cornish father’s prowess in “the art of fisticuffery,” and might certainly have looked for a spirited account of the affair at Bodmin Bridge when the terror of all Plymouth and Devonport was vanquished, and another of the fracas at Menheniot Fair. But we should probably also have had an essay […]
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine), 1834-1924 DEVONSHIRE WRESTLERS WRESTLING was the favourite sport in former days in Devonshire and Cornwall. Evelyn, in his Diary, speaks of Westcountrymen in London contesting in London against men of the North, and in all cases the former were the victors. And Ben Jonson, in his Bartholomew Fair, 1614, introduces a Western […]
DEVONSHIRE WRESTLING. For the Table Book. Abraham Cann, the Devonshire champion, and his brother wrestlers of that county, are objected to for their play with the foot, called “showing a toe” in Devonshire; or, to speak plainly, “kicking.” Perhaps neither the objectors, nor Abraham and his fellow-countrymen, are aware, that the Devonshire custom was also […]
WE must not close this department of our subject, without saying a word or two on wrestling. This exercise, which at one time was almost universal, is now, like many others, fallen into general disuse; and is confined almost entirely to Cornwall and Devon in the west, and the counties of Chester, Lancaster, Cumberland, and […]