ROYAL COCK- PITS 



George Wilson in the earliest known treatise 

 on the sport* says that Henry VIII 



" did take such pleasure and wonderful 

 delight in the cocks of the game that he 

 caused a most sumptuous and stately cock 

 pit to be erected in Westminster, wherein 

 His Majesty might disport himself with cock 

 fighting among his most noble and loving- 

 subjects who in like manner did affect that 

 pastime so well, and conceived so good an 

 opinion of it ... that they caused cock pits 

 to be made in many cities, boroughs and 

 towns throughout the whole realm " 

 In 1619, William Sixth Earl of Derby made 

 a cock-pit at Chester in a garden under 

 St. Johns. Many pits in various parts of the 

 country were built by the local authority of the 

 town which wanted one : such were known as 

 " Corporation Cock-pits " 



Henry VIII took part in many field sports 

 and was much addicted to gaming ; but it is a 

 curious fact that his Privy Purse Expenses* t 

 covering the period November 152910 Decem- 

 ber 1532, contain no single mention of money 



* The Commendation of Cocks and Cock-fighting. By 

 George Wilson of Wretton in Norfolk (1607). 



f By Sir H. N. Nicolas 



