SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



trophy given for wrestling. In the year 1816, 

 when James Robinson won, a couple of 

 guineas was the full amount offered, and this 

 sum, we suppose, was never exceeded till 

 many years after. The Langwathby Rounds 

 continued to flourish as long as they were 

 almost entirely confined to the villagers and 

 the rural population. But when the meetings 

 became larger, owing to the increased value 

 of the prizes offered, they were gradually 

 swamped by unruly characters from the 

 towns, and finally had to be given up about 

 the year 1870. 



It may be interesting to notice here a curi- 

 ous and remarkable old custom at which, to- 

 wards the latter end of the eighteenth century 

 and the early part of the nineteenth, wrest- 

 lings and a variety of other sports were much 

 patronized. The celebration of bridewains or 

 bidden weddings was extremely popular in 

 Cumberland. All the people of the country 

 side were invited. For the amusement of the 

 spectators assembled prizes were given for 

 sports of various kinds, as will be found de- 

 scribed in the graphic dialect poem of John 

 Stagg, the blind bard : 



Some for a par o' mittens loup't, 



Some wrustl'd for a belt : 



Some play'd at pennice-steans for brass : 



And some amaist gat fell't : 



Hitch-step-an-loup some tried for spwort, 



Wi' many a sair exertion : 



Others for bits o' 'bacca gurn'd, 



An sec like daft devarshon 



Put owre that day. 



If any reader wishes for a full description 

 of the various incidents and details connected 

 with this old wedding custom, he is recom- 

 mended to consult Stagg's poem of 'The Bride- 

 wain,' from which the preceding lines are 

 quoted. The people of the district were 

 generally invited to these weddings by public 

 advertisement, specimens of which still exist 

 in the files of one or two of the earliest local 

 newspapers. 



Ancient sports were formerly held upon 

 Stone Carr near Greystoke. They existed 

 for many years previous to 1787, and a lea- 

 thern belt was the usual prize for wrestling. 

 The Sunday following victory, the cham- 

 pion might be seen marching to church 

 decorated with the belt, and on the Sunday 

 following, showing off at another neighbour- 

 ing church. 



Early in the last century there still used to 

 be held meetings on 10 July on the top of 

 High Street, a mountain near Haweswater 

 in Westmorland. It was customary on that 

 day for the shepherds of the mountain 



sheep farms to hand over to the rightful 

 owners the stray sheep they had collected. 

 After this business had been gone through, a 

 dinner was set out, and then commenced 

 wrestling and other sports. These meetings 

 were discontinued about sixty or seventy years 



ago- 

 Previous to the year 1809 the wrestling in 

 the vicinity of Ambleside and throughout the 

 Lake circuit in general was considered very 

 inferior to that usually witnessed about Pen- 

 rith and the greater part of Cumberland. It 

 was probably through a laudable desire to 

 remedy this deficiency and to bring this manly 

 exercise into more general estimation that 

 Professor Wilson, then residing at Elleray, 

 who was devoted to athletic amusements 

 through a conviction of their utility, by his 

 own liberality and example promoted the 

 donation of a larger sum of money to wrestle 

 for at the annual sports, near Ambleside in 

 the year 1809, than had ever been known at 

 any preceding period in that part of West- 

 morland. Among the competitors for this 

 liberal prize was Thomas Nicholson ofThrel- 

 keld in Cumberland, who afterwards attained 

 such distinction at Carlisle. Nicholson was 

 the winner of this prize, throwing a dis- 

 tinguished wrestler of the name of Dixon and 

 the two well known wrestlers Rowland and 

 John Long. Owing however to the intro- 

 duction of evil practices, wrestling in the 

 Windermere district has completely disap- 

 peared. 



It was followed in the days of its pros- 

 perity rather in an amateur than a profes- 

 sional spirit. This is particularly exhibited 

 in the case of Jonathan Rodgers, who, after 

 many local successes and other more important 

 ones against such men as Joseph Parker of 

 Crooklands and Richard Chapman of Patter- 

 dale, gave up wrestling and became the re- 

 spected and prosperous tenant farmer of 

 Brothereldkeld, his birthplace, in the vale of 

 Eskdale. 



After the resuscitation of the Ambleside 

 wrestlings by Mr. Wilson in 1809 it is some- 

 what remarkable to note the large number of 

 first-rate lake-side wrestlers that came out ; 

 and it may not be amiss to bestow a passing 

 notice on the foremost. The celebrated 

 Windermere champion, John Barrow, flour- 

 ished in the wrestling ring in the early part 

 of the last century. William Litt, the author 

 of Wratliana one whose judgment may be 

 relied on pays him a deserved compliment 

 when he rates him as ' the most renowned 

 wrestler of this period,' and ' a match for 

 any man in the kingdom.' He stood fully 

 six feet and weighed fourteen stone. His 



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