SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



in a method -which teacheth to break all holds and 

 throw most falls mathematically. He established 

 annual wrestling matches at Bunny in 1712, 

 which were continued until their suppression by 

 Lord Rancliffe in 1810. Sir Thomas Parkyns 

 died in 1741 at the age of seventy-eight, and his 

 statue in Bunny Church represents him in a 

 wrestling attitude. 



Of the five places licensed by Richard I for 

 holding public tournaments in England one was 

 between Blythand Tickhill in Nottinghamshire. 

 The knowledge of the site of the tournament had 

 long been lost, but the researches of the Rev. J. 

 Stacye located the ground in the neighbourhood of 

 Styrrup, a hamlet about mid-way between the two 

 places. This field was so famous in its day that, 

 according to a document of the time of Edward II, 

 a 'Turneur de Blie' became a proverbial expression 



throughout the land. The Rev. James Orange, 

 in his History of Nottingham, says that King John 

 certainly held a tournament in Nottingham. The 

 lists are believed to have been outside Chapel 

 Bar in the fields fronting Park Row (formerly 

 Butt-dyke) which were set apart for games of 

 archery and bull-, bear-, and badger-baiting. 



On the plains near St. Ann's Well in Notting- 

 ham was the old Shepherd's Race, or Robin 

 Hood's Race a maze 535 yds. in length cut 

 in the turf. It was ploughed up on 27 February 

 1797, but another maze was cut in the green- 

 sward, and about the middle of the igth century 

 running the Shepherd's Race was a favourite 

 amusement of the boys and girls of the town. 

 The game consisted in running the whole 

 distance without tripping at its many turns or 

 treading on the grassy sides of the path. 



ROWING 



No records are available of the early his- 

 tory of rowing in the county, but there are 

 veteran oarsmen living in Nottingham to-day 

 who remember vividly the aquatic contests of 

 the middle of the igth century. The Nautilus, 

 the Lady of the Lake, the Dreadnought, and 

 the Briton were four excellent crews, whose 

 rivalry was very keen, and the achievements of 

 Webb, Kirk, Radford, the two Buxtons, Briggs, 

 Kenyon, Abbott, and Fidler are still recalled 

 with pride. Of the Nautilus crew of the days 

 before 1859, Mr. Registrar Speed, Mr. Thomas 

 Lambert, and Mr. J. Henry Brown are, it is 

 believed, the only survivors. In those days the 

 crew often assisted to build their own boats, the 

 distinction between professionalism and amateur- 

 ism was not observed, and matches for money 

 prizes were frequently arranged. A race for four 

 oars between the Nautilus and the Lady of the 

 Lake for 10 a side, when the latter won, may be 

 mentioned. The crews were : Nautilus : 

 R. Bailey, F. Jameson, J. Burton, C. James 

 (stroke), and Lambert (coxswain) ; Lady of the 

 Lake : H. Newham, W. Clayton, J. A. Green, 

 G. Abbott (stroke), and H. Fox (coxswain). A 

 few years earlier Charles Buxton, having beaten 

 Radford and Sharp respectively for the champion- 

 ship of the Trent, was met and defeated by 

 Tom Grant of Newcastle, the match being for 

 j2O a side. 



Attempts to popularize rowing by means of 

 regattas met with considerable support. These 

 events were conducted by a committee of 

 prominent rowing men and yacht owners, and 

 the course, about 2 miles in length, was in 

 the Colwick Waters, the turning point being 

 marked by a buoy. The boats, of course, were 



not so light as those now in use, and sliding 

 seats had not been invented. Extraordinary 

 public interest was excited by these events, and 

 in 1852, when the population of Nottingham 

 numbered only about 80,000, it was estimated 

 that 25,000 people witnessed the regatta. 

 T. Cole of Chelsea, the champion professional 

 sculler, formed one of the crew of the Princess 

 (London) in the All-England four-oar race, 

 while the Newcastle cutter, it is interesting to 

 note, was manned by four brothers, R., W., T., 

 and H. Clasper, with H. Clasper, jun., as cox- 

 swain. The programme at this time included 

 a four-oared prize-boat, value 30, for fours, 

 and the Town Plate was carried off by the Lady 

 of the Lake. 



A feature of the year 1867 was the 

 launching of the lifeboat Robin Hood on 

 7 January on the Trent by W. J. Martin, 

 H. A. Mann, J. Abbott, J. H. Whitty, J. H. 

 Naylor, W. Hibbs, W. Hopkin, G. Abbott, 

 J. Chiswell, J. Buxton, E. Stupple (rigger), 

 S. P. Knight (coxswain), and S. Collinson 

 (honorary secretary), who were all prominent 

 men on the river. Two years later the regatta 

 was planned on more ambitious lines under the 

 title of the Grand Annual Regatta, and occupied 

 a leading position among similar events in the 

 provinces for some years, crews coming to com- 

 pete from as far away as Tynemouth. 



Some six years previously, in 1862, the 

 Nottingham Rowing Club, which is still the 

 premier organization of its kind in the city, had 

 been formed for the encouragement of aquatics 

 on the Trent, one of its cardinal principles being 

 that no boats be taken out on Sundays. Mr. 

 W. A. Richards was elected the first president, 



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