SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



and yellow birds sent its spur clean through a 

 deal board three quarters of an inch thick, 

 that formed an edging to the raised pit. The 

 following is a return of the last main 

 fought at Ulverston in 1828. By advertise- 

 ment it was announced that ' a grand main 

 of cocks was to be fought at Ulverston on 

 the twenty-ninth, thirtieth and thirty-first of 

 May between the gentlemen of Lancashire 

 and Cumberland. William Woodcock feeder 

 for Lancashire and Addison for Cumberland. 

 A pair of cocks to be in the pit each day at 

 ten o'clock.' The fighting took place in the 

 forenoon and afternoon of each day, and was 

 decided as follows : 



Woodcock Addison 



Main Byes Main Byes 



Thursday forenoon . . 4-1 2 



afternoon . . 30 . . 30 



Friday forenoon . . 50 . . I I 



afternoon . . 3 1 3 ~ 



Saturday forenoon . . 4 . . 2 1 



afternoon . . 3-1 . . 3 - o 



22-3 14-2 



The superior training of Woodcock's birds 

 gave them a decisive victory. 



At the time that this main was fought, 

 cockfighting was at its height in Ulverston 

 and the neighbourhood comprised in all that 

 large district known as Lonsdale north of the 

 Sands. 



Besides the Shrovetide fighting in Lonsdale 

 North, open mains for stakes varying in 

 amount from i to 2 were fought at Dalton, 

 Kirkby Lonsdale, Bouth, Arrad-Foot, etc. 

 Nearly every village in fact had its annual 

 ' open main.' Within a circumference of ten 

 miles round Ulverston thousands of cocks 

 must have been slaughtered yearly. Arrad- 

 Foot, two miles from Ulverston, was the most 

 celebrated of these local meetings. From 80 

 to 100 cocks were penned in the early part 

 of February and prepared for fighting. The 

 feeders most in request were Askew, Red- 

 head and Braithwaite, all three men of con- 

 siderable ability and skill in bringing out cocks 

 in fighting condition. Redhead in one main 

 against Askew made a consecutive winning 

 run of thirteen. We are not aware that such 

 a long unbroken run has been paralleled. No 

 feeder that ever pitted a cock could make his 

 birds kill quicker than Redhead. It was 

 marvellous how quickly they could take away 

 life. They appeared to be fighting quite 

 easily. No loud crack with the wings 

 almost noiseless, in fact but sure after two 

 or three meets to stretch out their adversary 

 if not stone dead yet in the throes of 

 death. At Whitsuntide, on the race day at 

 Arrad-Foot, a ' stag main ' was for several 



years fought. The parties to the meeting 

 were gentlemen of Hawkshead versus Ulver- 

 ston, Redhead feeder for the latter and Nash 

 the former. The fighting was in a large 

 empty barn on a raised pit. This meeting 

 attained great popularity and drew together a 

 numerous assemblage of sporting characters. 



The Carlisle Patriot by advertisement an- 

 nounced a long main of cocks to be fought 

 at Aspatria on 17, 18, 19 and 20 March, 

 1819, between the gentlemen of Abbey Holme 

 and the gentlemen of Carlisle, for 5 guineas 

 a battle and 50 guineas the main, Glaister 

 feeder for Abbey Holme and Kirk for Carlisle. 

 The result of this great fight was as follows: 



Kirk Glaister 



Main Byes Main Byes 



First day 5 - o . . 8 - 2 



Second day 7 I ..61 



Third day 8 - 2 . . 5 - o 



Fourth day 8-0 . . 4-0 



28-3 23-3 



It will be seen from the above that Carlisle 

 came ofF victorious by five in the main. 



The late Chancellor Ferguson, in his 

 article on cockfighting in the Transactions of 

 the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian 

 and Archaeological Society, writes : ' It is said 

 that the Earl of Surrey and Sir James Low- 

 ther, in 1785, erected the cockpit, which up 

 to 1876 stood in a court on the west side of 

 Lowther Street, Carlisle. At that time these 

 two eminent personages were quarrelling over 

 Carlisle elections as bitterly as they could, and 

 their combining to do anything is very odd ; 

 probably they each gave a handsome sub- 

 scription by way of influencing the cock- 

 fighting interest at some election. Mr. Fisher 

 of Bank Street, Carlisle, possesses a picture of 

 it in oils painted by H. St. Clair in 1873, and 

 an interesting model to scale by Bellamy. It 

 was octagonal, 40 feet in diameter, the walls 

 12 feet high, and it was 45 feet in height to 

 top of the octagonal roof. In 1829 it was 

 occupied by Messrs. Burgess & Hayton as a 

 brass and iron foundry, and afterwards was 

 well known as ' Dand's smithy.' It is now a 

 portion of the premises occupied by a cabinet 

 maker. It rose to be, and continued for a 

 long series of years, a most attractive gathering 

 place, and much more aristocratic in its charac- 

 ter than any other in the county. The most 

 distinguished individuals who honoured the 

 Carlisle meetings with their patronage and 

 presence were the Duke of Norfolk and the 

 Earl of Derby. The first main we can 

 glean any account of in the Carlisle pit was a 

 sixteen cock main in 1804. It was a hard 

 contested fight, and won by a cock belonging 



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