Cornish wrestling (http://www.gorsedhkernow.org.uk/archivedsite/kernewek/kevren.htm Omdowl Kernewek Gorsedh Kernow Retrieved 10 June 2010.) is a form of wrestling that has been established in Cornwall for many centuries and possibly longer. It is similar to the Breton Gouren wrestling style. It is colloquially known as "wrasslin’"Phillipps, K C: Westcountry Words & Ways, David & Charles (Publishers) Limited 1976, p99.Cornish culture steps into the spotlight, The Western Morning News, 14 August 2006. in the Cornish dialect of English; historically, this usage is attested by Chaucer,Chaucer, Geoffrey: The Canterbury Tales, The Knightes Tale, The Reeves Tale, the Tale of Gamelyn, The Tale of Sir Thopas, etc, 1387-1400 ShakespeareShakespeare, William: As you like it, Act III, Scene II, 1599 and Drayton.Drayton, Michael: Poly-Olbion, 1612, i, 244
The referee is known as a 'stickler',James, Nicholas: Poems on several occasions, Wrestling, Andrew Brice (Truro) 1742, p21-40. and it is claimed that the popular meaning of the word as a 'pedant' originates from this usage.Hone, William: The Table Book of Daily Recreation and Information, Hunt & Clarke 1827, p663-664.
Cornish wrestling is a national sport of Cornwall, which spread throughout the British Isles and then, along with the Cornish diaspora, to such places as the United States, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand and South Africa.
It has similarities to Devon wrestling but it was reputed to focus less on foot moves and more on throwing.
Rules The objective of Cornish wrestling is to throw one's opponent and cause them to land as flat as possible on their back. Each of the wrestlers wears a ‘jacket’ of tough make and material, enabling them to better grip their opponent. Grabbing of the opponent's or your own arms, wrists or fingers is forbidden as well as holding below the waist. All holds are to be taken upon the jacket, although the flat of the hand is allowed to be used to push or deflect an opponent.Tripp, Michael: PERSISTENCE OF DIFFERENCE: A HISTORY OF CORNISH WRESTLING, University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2009, Vol I p2-217.W, Tregoning Hooper: Cornish Wrestling, The Cornish Review, Porthmeor Press (Penzance) 1950, p. 30–32. No fending is permitted. No force on the throat is permitted. Three sticklers watch and control each bout, keeping score of points.Kendall, Bryan H: The Art of Cornish Wrestling, Federation of Old Cornwall Societies (Cornwall) 1990, p. 1–32.
Four pins are located on the back of a wrestler, two at the shoulders and two just above the buttocks. A wrestler scores points by throwing their opponent onto their back, the number of pins hitting the floor being the number of points scored. If a wrestler manages to score with three or four pins this is called a ‘Back’ and the bout is then finished, with the throwing wrestler as the winner.Guy Jaouen and Matthew Bennett Nicols: Celtic Wrestling, The Jacket Styles, Fédération Internationale des Luttes Associées (Switzerland) 2007, p1-183. The sticklers each raise their sticks when they perceive a Back has been achieved. A Back may be awarded by majority, i.e. by two out of the three sticklers. If a Back is not awarded, the winner is the wrestler with the most accumulated points within the time limit.
History Cornish wrestling has a long history, with Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae () describing Corineus, the legendary founder of Cornwall, as a man "of great courage and boldness, who, in an encounter with any person, even of gigantic stature, would immediately overthrow him, as if he were a child", and later tells the story of how Corineus wrestled a Cornish giant, Gogmagog or Goemagot upon the cliff top known as Lamm Goemagot.
Thomas Hoby writes that, in 1551 at Chastenbriant, the French king showed my Lord Marquess of Northampton "great pleasure and disport...sometime with his great boisterlie Bretons wrastling with my lordes yemen of Cornwall, who had much to do to gete the upper hande of them."Hoby, Thomas: A Book of the Travaile and Life of me Thomas Hoby, 1551
Some of the earliest written evidence for wrestling in the West Country comes from a 1612 poem entitled "Poly-Olbion" by Michael Drayton, which gives the names of some Cornish Wrestling throws. Drayton also published a poem in 1627 called The Battle of Agincourt, which concerns the 1415 battle. The poem states that the Cornish men who accompanied Henry V into battle held a banner of two Cornish wrestlers.
Cornish, Devon and Breton wrestlers have long taken part in inter-Celtic matches since at least 1402 and these still occasionally continue. In early times Cornish and Devonian wrestlers often had matches against each other though the rules they followed were not the same. One of these was the notable match between Richard Parkyn and the Devonian John Jordan.
In 1654, Oliver Cromwell and many of his privy council were reported as watching 100 Cornishmen wrestling in Hyde Park, presenting "...great agility of body and most neat and exquisite wrestling at every meeting of one with the other, which was ordered with such dexterity, that it was to show more the strength, vigour and nimbleness of their bodies, than to endanger their persons."The Moderate Intelligencer, May 1, 1654
Charles II, along with "a world of lords" and many other spectators, watched a series of wrestling matches in St James' Park in 1669, with a purse of £1000, which saw the "Western men" win.Evelyn, John: Memoirs Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, William Bray, 1818 His Highness York’s great Duke beheld the same With other persons of renowned fame Brave Cornishmen, you are to be commended And will be so until the world is ended.Hurling in the 17th century, matches in Hyde park, Cornish Guardian, 15 February 1940, p. 2.
Sir Thomas Parkyns (1664–1741), known as the Wrestling Baronet, was a devotee of wrestling and organised an annual wrestling match in Bunny Park (prize a gold-laced hat). These matches continued until 1810. His book on the subject The Inn-Play: or, the Cornish Hugg-Wrestler was published in 1713 and reprinted many times.Hole, Christina (1949) English Sports and Pastimes. London: Batsford; p. 31
A contest at Bodmin in 1811 attracted 4,000 spectators, but thereafter interest in the sport waned. James Gerry (of Linkinhorne) and Samuel Rundle (Plymouth) fought for a £20 purse and the championship of Cornwall in 1883 at Liskeard. Lasting just over an hour, the match ended in a draw in the 19th round following Rundle tearing leg muscles. Gerry was reported in The Cornishman newspaper to have vanquished all the best men in America as well as many men in Cornwall, Rundle had beaten nearly all the wrestling men in Devon and Cornwall.
In 1927 William Tregoning Hooper (Bras y Golon) agreed with the Breton Dr. Cottonec of Quimperle that there should be annual wrestling tournaments in which both Cornish and Breton wrestlers would compete. In 1932, the Duke of Cornwall helped fund the competing Cornish wrestlers.Cornish Wrestling, Cornishman, 04 August 1932, p. 4.
In the 1970s Truro Cathedral School was teaching Cornish wrestling as part of its physical education programme and was the only school in Cornwall to do so.Peter Berresford Ellis (1974) The Cornish Language and its Literature. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, p. 199
Traditions
A very old custom was, on the Sunday following a wrestling match or tournament, to wear to church any prizes won. Alternatively they were hung on an inside pillar near the main church door. This custom was especially observed when the victory was with another parish.Another usage, The Cornish Telegraph, 5 July 1871, p3.
Wrestling matches were often located in graveyards, as evidenced by the Bishop of Exeter banning wrestling in graveyards in Cornwall and Devon in 1287.Tripp, Mike: Cornish Wrestling A History, Federation of Old Cornwall Societies (Cornwall) 2023.
Some Cornish wrestling matches allowed shin-kicking. This was often referred to as "Cornish purring".Los Angeles Herald 23 April 1889, p4.
There is an ancient custom whereby sticklers of a tournament would appear at church the following Sunday wearing "Christys" (silk top hats)Wrestling at St Mawgan, St. Austell Star, 29 July 1897, p5. with streamers (silk ribbons).Cornish wrestling, Cornish Guardian, 30 July 1936, p14.
There are multiple stories of women being capable wrestlers, even more than 200 years ago. For example, Caroline Andrewartha who was taught wrestling by her father and in turn taught her son Joel Andrewartha, who went on to become one of the best wrestlers in Cornwall, including beating Polkinghorne.The farmer and the maid, Cornishman, 18 May 1939, p. 6.The farmer and the maid, Cornish Post and Mining News, 20 May 1939, p. 4. Another example is Lizzie Taylor (1831–1887), known as "Happy Ned" or "Lizzie-poor-Dick", who threw John Lillywhite in a wrestling-bout at Clowance. She was a miner who dressed in men's clothes.First class cricketers on Penzance ground, Cornishman, 13 September 1894, p6.Cornwall 30 years ago, Cornubian and Redruth Times, 6 January 1888, p8.Cricket - Twenty two of Cornwall against the united eleven, The Cornish Telegraph, 1 October 1856, p3.
During a match, wrestlers shake hands before every hitch.Muldoon, James: Muldoon's Wrestling, A complete treatise on the various English, Scotch, American, French, German and Japanese Styles of Wrestling, Dick and Fitzgerald (New York) 1893, p30-42.
Prior to the mid-1800s, competitors had to renounce the use of magic before the start of a tournament.Duchy Wrestling Champions, Western Morning News, 22 August 1930, p4.
Traditionally wrestlers would challenge each other to wrestling matches by throwing their hat into the ring. The idiom may come from this practice.Littell, E: Living Age, Stanford & Delisser (New York) 1858, p757.Walker, Donald: Defensive Exercises, PALMER and CLAYTON (London) 1840, p24-34.
In Cornwall, youngsters used to play the game of "shuffle hats and wrastle", where they would throw their hats into a ring, with their owners wrestling off in accordance with the pairing of the hats.Notes in the West: Cornish wrestling, Western Morning News, 10 May 1946, p. 4.Pascoe, Harry, Cornish wrestling, Tre Pol and Pen The Cornish Annual, 1928, p63-69.A Cornish "Admirable Crichton", St. Austell Star, 30 October 1891, p5.
There had been a custom of "begging the ring" whereby old or injured wrestlers would walk around the ring begging for alms. This was replaced by a wrestlers' benevolent fund in 1926 and then by the welfare state.Benevolent fund for competitors who are injured, Cornish Guardian, 16 April 1926, p. 14."Begging the ring" abolished, Western Morning News, 15 April 1926, p. 12.
Wrestling matches were once played in churchyards, but in 1297 the Bishop of Exeter banned it from such places in Devon and Cornwall. Down Your Way, Cornish Guardian, 8 May 2013.
At some tournaments there were prizes for those wrestlers appearing in the neatest costume.Dartmouth Regatta, The Cornishman, 12 August 1886, p5.
In late Victorian times women were briefly banned from matches, as men often wrestled in their long johns, which was not considered respectable.
Gold laced hats were often used as first place prizes for Cornish wrestling tournaments. It was said that wearers of such hats were immune from the attentions of the press gang.
Wrestlers who were knocked senseless in bouts would often be treated by being "bled" on site if there was a doctor at hand.Egan, Pierce: Book of Sport, No XXI The Wrestlers, T T & J Tegg, 1832, p321-336."Great wrestling match for £20 between James Cann and Francis Oliver, Western Times, 21 June 1828, p4.