A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



sawdust was brought into the kitchen, and 

 the butcher and the baronet stripped and set 

 to, with the servants looking on to see fair 

 play. The fight was furious at the outset, 

 but the butcher was soon defeated by the 

 superior science of the baronet and had to 

 depart without his money. 



The most memorable prize fight that took 

 place on Royston Heath was the contest 

 between Jem Ward and Peter Crawley for 

 the championship on January 2, 1827. This 

 event was the occasion of the greatest excite- 

 ment, and the concourse of people that 

 assembled at the lower end of the cricket 

 ground was enormous. From ten to fifteen 

 thousand persons were there, including all 

 classes of society. Crawley stood 6 feet 

 2 inches in his stockings and Ward 5 feet 

 9 inches. The fighting took the form of 

 such a furious onslaught upon each other that 

 in twenty-six minutes and after eleven rounds 

 both men were completely exhausted. Craw- 

 ley had his cheek laid open and both eyes 

 nearly closed, but Ward could not stand, and 

 thus he lost his champion belt. 



Another well remembered prize fight took 

 place between Owen Swift, a practised hand, 

 and ' Brighton Bill,' a young inexperienced 

 fighter of only twenty years of age. This 

 took place in the year 1838 at Barkway, and 

 it created an immense amount of interest. 

 After a brutal exhibition the unfortunate 

 young man from Brighton simply allowed 

 himself to be pummelled to death, the out- 

 come being an inquest and a trial for man- 

 slaughter at the Herts Assizes. A verdict of 

 manslaughter was returned, and the jury 

 expressed their deep regret and concern that 

 the magistrates of Hertfordshire had not inter- 

 fered to prevent a fight which for some days 



previously had so notoriously been expected 

 to take place. The fight caused many per- 

 sons in the neighbourhood to look with sus- 

 picion and shame upon the so-called ' noble 

 art of self-defence,' and to turn with disgust 

 from such exhibitions of brutality. 



Fights at Royston Heath have since 1838 

 been few and far between, and have only been 

 carried out at great risk of apprehension of 

 the principals and their abettors. 



A notorious battle took place on May 30, 

 1833, on No Man's Land, 'the arena of 

 many a gallant encounter,' between Simon 

 Byrne and Deaf Burke. Byrne was cham- 

 pion of Ireland. After a battle lasting for 

 three hours and sixteen minutes, during which 

 no less than ninety-nine rounds were fought, 

 Burke was declared the winner. Byrne, who 

 was knocked out of time, was taken to the 

 Wool Pack Inn at St. Albans, where not- 

 withstanding the best medical skill, including 

 Sir Astley Cooper's, he died four days later. 

 Burke and his seconds were tried for man- 

 slaughter at the Hertford Assizes, but were 

 acquitted on the evidence of the doctor, who 

 said that Byrne's death was not caused by the 

 injuries he received from the battle. 



It is a curious coincidence that Simon 

 Byrne had caused the death of McKay, the 

 Scotch champion, on the same day of the 

 month three years previously. 



Many other battles of less importance have 

 been fought in Hertfordshire at Harpenden, 

 Colney Heath, and on other open spaces, 

 especially those on the confines of the county, 

 where it was easy to cross over into another 

 county to escape the police. 



The Park Hotel, No Man's Land, has 

 been until quite recently a favourite training 

 residence for pugilists. 



COCKFIGHTING 



The origin of this sport is curious. It 

 is said that in the year 476 B.C. when 

 Themistocles was marching with his army 

 against the barbarians, he saw two cocks 

 fighting. He halted his army and thus 

 addressed them : ' These cocks are not 

 fighting for their country or for their paternal 

 gods, nor do they endure this for the monu- 

 ments of their ancestors or for the sake of 

 glory in the cause of liberty or for their 

 offspring; their only motive is that one is 

 determined not to yield to the other.' After 

 this episode the Athenians made a law that 

 one day in every year should be set apart 

 for an exhibition of cockfighting. This 

 Athenian law became the custom in England, 



Shrove Tuesday being the day set apart, 

 and cockfighting was carried on through 

 the length and breadth of England on that 

 day until the year 1795, when it was sup- 

 pressed. 



The pupils of the City of London Schools 

 used to club together and present their 

 masters with cocks to fight on Shrove 

 Tuesday mornings. 



This county was well known for its love 

 of the sport, and we find spots pointed out on 

 most of the Hertfordshire commons as the 

 scenes of historic cockfights. There is also 

 a spot in Gorhambury Park that is still known 

 as ' Bacon's cock pit.' 



It was also customary at inns to have 



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