Early Cornish Wrestling

Journal of Western Martial Art
March 2000

by Ken Pfrenger

Origins and Early History

Very few western martial traditions have a verifiable unbroken line of practice from Medieval times. The same can be said for Asian martial traditions as well. The indigenous wrestling of Englands West Country and of the Cornish people themselves has a history that extends before Medieval times and possibly back into ancient times as well.

According to Cornish legends, around the year 1000 B.C. Corinaeus, the first chief of of Cornwall, defeated the giant named Gog Magog by throwing him into the sea from Plymoth Hoe. Up until the rennaisance figures were caved into the sod of Plymoth Hoe depicting this wrestling scene. Of course this is only a legend and hardly a scholarly bit of evidence to suggest a date for the origin of Cornish wrestling. However it does show the importance of wrestling to the Cornish people by being included in the story of the founding of their homeland.

A more concrete bit of evidence exists for an early date for wrestling traditions in Cornwall and that is the founding of the Celtic region now known as Brittany. During the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. many indigenous britons from the areas now known as Cornwall and Devonshire migrated to Cornouaille in present day Brittany. It is believed that brought the sports of wrestling and hurling with them. From an early time until now both these sports have remained staples of Breton sportive traditions. Wrestling was also a traditional combat sport in other celtic areas at this early times as well. In many of the Irish texts written from the 8th to 12th centuries wrestling between combatants before armed combat is mentioned several times. It is also known that Irish wrestlers traveled to Cornwall to compete in the late Middle Ages. Irish collar and Elbow wrestling as practiced in the 19th century greatly resembled the wrestling in Cornwall and the Breton wrestling(gouren). This suggests an almost pan-celtic style of wrestling that may have had it's origin in a time when the celtic peoples dispersed themselves over the British isles.

This all said it is important to note that the earliest true evidence for wrestling in Cornawall comes from a carved roof boss dated c. 1300 A.D. Which depicts two wrestlers gripping each other in the modern Cornish manner. A similar carving can be found on the Market Cross at Kells in Ireland dated c. 800 A.D.

The first written evidence for wrestling in the west country comes from a 1590 poem entitled "Polyolbion" by Michael Drayton concerning the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. it states that the Cornishmen who accompanied Henry V into battle had a standard that depicted two wrestlers. A replica of just such a banner is usually flown at wrestling events in modern Cornwall.

In 1520 there is an account of a tournament between the Cornish Wrestlers of Henry VIII of England and the Breton wrestlers of Francis I King of France being held at Calais in France. The Cornish wrestlers won the day but king HenryVIII was thrown with a flying mare during a challenge match with the French King. There are several other references made to Cornish wrestling in the 16th century but most of them do not get into any specifics.

In the 17th Century Sir Richard Carew wrote of Cornish wrestling and it's close relative, Devonshire wrestling in his "Survey of Cornwall" He writes...

"Wrastling is as full of manliness, more delightful and less dangerous (than hurling)..........for you shall hardly find an assembly of boyes in Devon and Cornwall, where the most untowardly amongst them will not as readily give you a muster of this exercise as you are prone to require it."

Parkyns and After

In 1713 a man by the name of Sir Thomas Parkyns wrote the first manual entirely devoted to wrestling in the English language, "The Inn-Play or Cornish-Hugg Wrestler". Parkyns Close-hugg style differs greatly from the modern sport of Cornish wrestling. It is much more combative in nature yet it does contain some of the same throws such as the flying mare and cross-buttock. It seems to not only deal with the sportive aspects of the style but also with self defence as well. Defences against lapel chokes and several other attacks are included as well as a section about which of the Close-Hugg moves to use while boxing. There is also a small section on how to deal with a contentous man which shows the old bartender favorite of grabbing a person by the collar and back their pants to escort them to the door.

There is only a small mention of the jacket which is used in modern Cornish wrestling and Devonshire or out-play is referred to as being inferior to the in-play of the Cornish style in the manual. Interestingly the account by Carew in the 17th century does not mention the jacket but mentions a girdle that is used for grips which Parkyns does not mention. A girdle that perhaps gives rise to a connection between the Cornish style and another indigenous British style known as side-hold in which a harness is worn for grips.

By The 19th century the use of the jacket was standard and a great rivelry had grown between the wrasslers of Cornwall and Devonshire. The two groups basically practiced the same form of wrestling but seemed specialize in different areas of the sport. The Cornishmen concentrated on the in-play or close hug relying on the upper body while the Devonshire wrestlers concentrated on the tripping and kicking aspects of the sport also known as the out-play. Obviously both styles of wrestling contained the elements of the in-play and out-play but held a preference for one or a prejudice to the other. The style of the Devonshire men was thought of as brutal by the Cornish spectators due to the fact that Devonshire matches often turned into punishing shin kicking contests. Often shoes were worn in the Devonshire style to add more damage to the kickng techniques while the Cornish wrestlers stayed barefooted or wore a wool sock.

In 1826 a huge challenge match between the Cornish Champion Polkinghorne and the Devonshire Champion, Abraham Cann. Cann was permitted to wear one shoe and was said to have kicked mightly on that day. It is unclear who won that match with the judges calling it a draw and the spectators from the various camps claiming victory for their sides. The style of Devonshire seemed to be losing steam by this time and within a century was all but forgotten while the Cornish style hung on by a slender thread.

Currently the modern sport matches are held on a field with a referee or stickler taking control of the action. The goal is a fall in which three points of the thrown wrestler's body touches the ground. It is often mistakingly compared to the Japanese art of Judo as a Cornish version of it. The art is kept alive today with a growing interest in western martial traditions and through continued practice by dedicated Cornish wrestlers at fairs and tournaments

Sources:

1. The Inn-Play or Cornish Hugg Wrestler by Sir Thomas Parkyns London 1727
2. The Socio-Genesis of Cornish Wrestling by Michael Tripp, A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MSc in the sociology of sport and sports management, University of Leicester 1995
3. Notes on Early English and American Wrestling History by Tom Conroy in Hoplos Vol 3 Number 4 1981
4. A Pictorial History of Wrestling by Graeme Kent, Spring Books, Middlesex 1968
5. Article, Wrestling from The Cornish Magazine 1848
6. Article from The Saturday Review, April 19, 1884

Journal of Western Martial Art