A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



A popular nobleman in the southern part of 

 Lancashire had hundreds of game-cocks out 

 at walk at the same time, and it was quite a 

 usual thing with him to have a clause inserted 

 in his farm leases stating that the tenant must 

 walk a game-cock for his lordship, just as in 

 many parts of the country nowadays tenants 

 are often required to walk puppies for the 

 master of the hounds hunting the district. 



A singular illustration of school rights in 

 the neighbourhood of Carlisle is afforded by a 

 donation made by a Mr. Graham of a silver bell, 

 weighing 2 ounces, upon which is engraved 

 'Wrey Chappie 1665,' to be fought for 

 annually on Shrove Tuesday by cocks. About 

 three weeks previous to the eventful day the 

 boys assembled and selected as their captains 

 two of their schoolfellows whose parents 

 were willing to bear the expenses incurred 

 in the forthcoming contests. After an early 

 dinner on Shrove Tuesday the two captains, 

 attended by their friends and schoolfellows, 

 who were distinguished by blue and red 

 ribbons, marched in procession from their 

 respective homes to the village green, where 

 each produced three cocks, and the bell was 

 appended to the hat of the victor, in which 

 manner it was handed down from one suc- 

 cessful captain to another. 



In 1836 the cockfighting of Wreay was 

 put down by the Rev. R. Jackson, and super- 

 seded by a ' hunt,' which from the first 

 obtained a degree of celebrity to which the 

 ' captain battles ' never had any pretension. 

 For some time after cockfighting was nomin- 

 ally put down it still went on, and usually 

 took place while the hunt was in progress, 

 and wrestling and other games were held. 

 Schools in adjoining villages had holiday for 

 ' Wreay hunt.' At the present time there 

 are the ordinary village sports at Wreay, and 

 there may be a ' hound trail ' ; but for hunt- 

 ing the district is dependent upon neighbour- 

 ing packs. The ' Wreay bell ' has been lost 

 for some twenty-five years, and all efforts to 

 trace this interesting relic have failed. When 

 won at the Shrove Tuesday cockfights the 

 owner usually allowed it to be kept at the 

 village inn, and the probability is that it has 

 been stolen. 



At Sedburgh School an annual payment of 

 a guinea was made by each pupil to the 

 master for ' cock money.' Scholars at the 

 Penrith Grammar School also paid ' cock 

 money ' annually, and indeed the practice 

 obtained in many schools in the north. 



There were unfortunately many instances 

 of cockfighting a great deal more deplorable 

 than village school fights at Shrovetide. In 

 most of the secluded dales the clergymen, 



from their connection with the schools, were 

 the principal abettors of cockfighting. Drink- 

 ing was a regular accompaniment of rural 

 cocking, and the two bad practices combined 

 tended to destroy the usefulness of Church 

 ministers in districts which required better 

 teaching and example. A cockpit was 

 formerly connected with Bromfield Church, 

 near Wigton, where cockfighting was fre- 

 quently carried on after church service on 

 Sundays, with what effect on the congrega- 

 tion we may imagine. 



The late Chancellor Ferguson, in an 

 article on ' Cockfighting ' in the Transactions 

 of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian 

 and Archaeological Society (ix. 366-82), writes : 

 ' It is possible that the " gentlemen of the sod " 

 who fought their mains on Sunday in a church- 

 yard cock-pit may have had some qualms of 

 conscience to gulp down ; if any such existed 

 at Alston in Cumberland, the old maxim of 

 the end justifying the means would be used for 

 their alleviation, for there was " an endowed 

 grammar school, rebuilt in 1828, among the 

 holiday sports of which in the olden time was 

 that of a main of fighting cocks for a prayer- 

 book at Easter. Some of the books thus 

 won are yet in possession of some of the sur- 

 viving scholars." ' The Chancellor further 

 says that this Sunday cocking was not pecu- 

 liar to the north of England. 



It is related of a certain sporting parson 

 that while dozing in his pulpit during a collec- 

 tion he suddenly woke up, and cried out in a 

 voice loud enough to be heard by the whole 

 congregation, ' I'll back t' black cock black 

 cock a guinea damn me ! ' 



But keen as was the interest in school 

 fights and local mains the more important 

 mains were mostly fought in towns, and 

 drew large and sometimes fashionable crowds. 

 Cocks intended to fight in a main, say at 

 Liverpool, Carlisle, Penrith, or Ulverston, 

 were usually weighed, matched, and their 

 colours and marks taken down three days 

 before fighting. Occasionally they weighed 

 and fought off the scale. This mode of pro- 

 cedure was however exceptional. The 'main' 

 was sometimes only a day's fight, but gener- 

 ally lasted three or four. By mutual agree- 

 ment each contending party was bound to 

 weigh-in a certain specified number of birds, 

 thirty or forty for three or four days' fighting. 

 The weight agreed upon would be mostly 

 from about 3 Ib. 14 oz. to 5 Ib. 4 or 6 oz., 

 and the contracting parties must weigh the 

 whole number of birds they agree to fight 

 within the specified weight. Those of equal 

 weight were appointed to contend against 

 each other, and i or 2 oz. difference in 



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