10 OLD VILLAGE JOKES AND GAMES. 



he stole a sheep from the field below the Cow-stall. The con- 

 stable traced the sheep to his house and found it hung up and 

 dressed in his back-house. He got 5 or 7 years in gaol. Also 

 one T.R. stole a cow and drove her to Exeter and sold her. He 

 got seven years. From this, Haselbury men of that generation 

 got a bad name for sheep stealing and cattle lifting, and 

 Mappowder men retaliated on them by nicknaming them 

 " Ba-lambs." 



I have hitherto been unable to trace the origin of 

 " Buckland nanny-goats " or " Pulham hogs," but " Hoi well 

 men " and " Caundle dogs " seem to have originated from 

 the prowess of the men of these villages in the rough games 

 of cudgel-playing and cut-leg, and there appears to have been 

 a great rivalry between the men of these villages for the 

 championship. 



Two OLD GAMES. 



CUDGEL-PLAYING AND CUT -LEG. 



This brings me to the second part of my paper as to the 

 games of cudgel-playing and cut-leg. These old games pro- 

 bably came into vogue when the more brutal combats of the 

 tournay died out, and possibly helped to maintain the fighting 

 qualities of our country-folk which proved such a valuable 

 asset in our Continental wars. The game of cudgels was 

 " played," mark you, with a weapon about three feet long and 

 an inch in diameter, made of ash. I have been unable to 

 obtain an original cudgel, but Mr. Old, of Bishop's Caundle, 

 who has seen them, has kindly reproduced a pair for me, which 

 I now show. Some cudgels have basket hand-guards, and 

 some only a leather thong-lcop to go round the wrist. Wm. 

 Loder, of Pollbridge, Bishop's Caundle, who died in 1909 at a 

 great age and had seen the game " played," gave me the 

 following information. 



CUDGEL-PLAYING. 



It was generally " played " at the Pulham, Holwell and 

 Caundle feasts. The modus operandi was to construct a plat- 

 form of the tables used at the feast, resting them either on beer 



