SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



them knowledge of every here baityng and bull 

 baityng within towne to see the sport of the 

 game after the old custom and usage.' There is 

 a local tradition that Bearward Lane (now 

 Mount Street) was the place were the bears 

 belonging to the castle were kennelled. 



Badgers were baited until the close of the 

 1 8th, and perhaps until early in the 1 9th, cen- 

 tury. In the Autobiography of George Prime, 

 nephew of the Rev. Owen Dinsdale, a former 

 rector of Wilford, it is stated that this cruel 

 sport was carried on at Bradmore about the end 

 of the 1 8th century. Many of these barbarous 

 recreations were formerly adjuncts of the country 

 ' wakes,' held on the festival of the saint to whom 

 the parish church was dedicated. These ' wakes ' 

 are still kept up with much rejoicing in various 

 parishes, but the debasing pursuits that amused our 

 forefathers have, happily, long since disappeared. 



Cock-fighting flourished much longer than 

 any of these other brutal sports. Cock-pits 

 were to be found at most of the large inns in 

 Nottingham and other towns in the county, and 

 for many years a main of cocks was a regular 

 accompaniment of the races on Nottingham 

 Forest. A ' battle royal,' in which an unlimited 

 number of birds fought until finally one emerged 

 the conqueror of all, and the Welsh main, in 

 which sixteen pairs of birds fought, were the 

 most popular forms of cocking. Frequently 

 county was pitted against county. Thus, for 

 example, it is recorded that on 6 July 1772 the 

 gentlemen of Nottinghamshire and the gentle- 

 men of Derbyshire fought a main of cocks for 

 2 guineas a battle and 2O the odd one at the 

 Ram Inn at Nottingham, when Nottinghamshire 

 gained the day. Four days later there was another 

 main of cocks fought at the ' White Lion ' pit 

 at Nottingham, between gentlemen of London 

 and Derbyshire, for 10 guineas a battle and 200 

 the odd one, when Derbyshire won by sixteen 

 battles to eleven. The ' White Lion ' was the 

 principal inn in the town at that time, and here 

 some of the most important cock-fights in the 

 country were held. During the race meetings 

 the gentry of the surrounding district spent the 

 early part of the day in the ' White Lion ' cock- 

 pit, which, according to Mr. William Stevenson, 

 was in existence and used as a chandlery in the 

 'eighties, the entrance being by Pawlett's Yard 

 on the Long Row. In 1763 a fight which led 

 to important results was arranged here between 

 the gentlemen of London and Nottingham. 

 The London birds were placed in a cellar of the 

 inn, where access was obtained to them by some 

 unprincipled townsman, who, to profit by the 

 betting, poisoned the water with arsenic, thus 

 rendering the whole of the London cocks in- 

 capable of fighting. This act caused the forma- 

 tion of an ' Association for the Defence of Game 



Fowls ' for the counties of Nottingham, Leicester, 

 and Derby, and a reward of ^50 was offered 

 for the apprehension of the delinquent. 



This advertisement, which appeared in the 

 Nottingham Journal in 1795, is a typical speci- 

 men of an announcement of cock-fighting : 



COCKING. A main of cocks and stags will be 

 fought at the White Lion Inn in Nottingham on 

 Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, 1 6th, iyth, and 

 1 8th of February, betwixt the gentlemen of Derby- 

 shire and the gentlemen of Nottinghamshire. 



To show 1 6 stags and 25 cocks in the main and 

 ten byes. To fight for four guineas a battle and one 

 hundred guineas the main. 



Feeders : Redfern, junior, for Derbyshire ; Clay 

 for Nottinghamshire. 



Opinion is divided as to whether the attach- 

 ment of artificial spurs of steel added to the 

 cruelty of this sport ; it certainly made the 

 battles shorter and sharper. Cock-fighting 

 figured prominently in the sports of th- com- 

 mon people at Shrovetide, when, in addition, 

 there were practised the even more barbarous 

 pastimes of throwing at the cock and thrashing 

 the fat hen. In throwing at the cock the victim 

 was tied to a stake by a short cord, and men and 

 boys, standing about 2O yds. off, threw at the 

 poor creature with broomsticks until it was 

 killed. Hens were sometimes thrashed to death 

 with a flail on the barn floor, or the bird was 

 tied to a man's back while a number of persons 

 followed blindfolded with boughs in their hands 

 and endeavoured to strike the hen, whose move- 

 ments were indicated by the sound of a bell. 



Besides these sports, which were not, except 

 in some details, peculiar to Nottinghamshire, 

 there were other amusements of a more rational 

 and picturesque character, which throw interest- 

 ing sidelights on the habits and manners of our 

 forefathers. May-day customs are in many re- 

 spects similar to those in other counties, but 

 Nottinghamshire has the honour, according to 

 Mr. Llewellynn Jewitt, of being the parent of 

 some of the happy pastimes that characterized 

 this period of the year, many of the May-day 

 games having had their origin in the accounts of 

 Robin Hood, who is so intimately associated 

 with the district. May-poles and Morris dances 

 were until a comparatively recent period very 

 general, and Robin Hood, Little John, Friar 

 Tuck, Maid Marian and others were conspicu- 

 ous characters of the revelries. May-pries ex- 

 isted until recent years at Hucknall Torkard, 

 Linby, Farnsfield, and other places. Mr. J. Potter 

 Briscoe, F.R.H.S., says he can find mention of 

 only one in Nottingham. It was erected in 

 1747 * and remained in its position at the end 



1 This May-pole was the gift of Sir Charles Sedley, 

 elected M.P. for Nottingham Town, 30 June 1747. 

 He presented the highest fir-tree in Nuthall to com- 

 memorate the triumph of his party. 



411 



