Sports and Games

Games and contests kept on their day: Shrovetide football, hurling and the Ba’, cudgel play, races, wrestling and the Christmas games.

The year ahead

Sunday 11 October

Sun 11 Oct 09:30 16:00
Custom

World Conker Championships

Shuckburgh Arms, Southwick, Northamptonshire
- Custom game
- Sports and Games

Saturday 31 October

Friday 13 November

Sunday 15 November

Monday 30 November

Friday 25 December

Folklore from the old calendars

The quintain on Cornhill at Christmas No longer kept LondonAt Christmas a quintain was set up on Cornhill by Leadenhall, and the Lords of Misrule's followers rode at it.
A yawning match for a Cheshire cheese No longer kept EnglandAmong the Christmas gambols Addison had seen was a yawning match for a Cheshire cheese, which began about midnight when everyone was drowsy.
Post and pair at Christmas No longer kept EnglandChristmas was the season for card games played for money, such as post and pair and slam, and a man with empty pockets had to sit them out.
Shoeing the mare at Christmas No longer kept EnglandAmong the Christmas sports of the young men was shoeing the mare, a game of the twelve holidays kept alongside blind-man's-buff and the wassail bowl.
The wassail bowl after fox-i’-th’-hole No longer kept EnglandAt Christmas the wassail bowl was tossed off after a round of the game fox-i'-th'-hole, and blind-man's-buff was played by the fire.
Is it not Christmas? No longer kept EnglandAt Christmas people gave themselves up to cards, dice, tables, masking, mumming and bowling, as if the season gave them a special licence to do as they liked.
Lighting the candle from the pole No longer kept CornwallOne of the Christmas games of the country people of west Cornwall was played on a round pole about ten feet long laid between two chairs, with a lighted candle on one of them.
Wad-shooting at Kirkden No longer kept AngusThe minister of Kirkden in Angus reported in 1792 that Christmas was kept as a great festival in his parish.
Hunting owls and squirrels on Christmas Day No longer kept SuffolkA man brought up in a village not far from Bury St Edmunds told Brand that when he was a boy the youths there had a country custom of hunting owls and squirrels on Christmas Day.
Wrestling for the boar’s head No longer kept EssexAt Hornchurch the lessee of the tithes, which belonged to New College, Oxford, provided a boar's head, dressed and garnished with bay leaves, every Christmas Day.

Fri 25 Dec from 09:00
Custom

Peter Pan Cup Christmas Day Swim

Serpentine Lido, London, Greater London
Fri 25 Dec from 10:00
Custom

Kirkwall Ba’ Game

Sets off from Mercat Cross, Kirkwall, Orkney

Saturday 26 December

Sat 26 Dec 14:00 15:00
Custom

Boxing Day Cammag at St John’s

Tynwald Hill, St John's, Isle of Man

Sunday 27 December

Thursday 31 December

Thu 31 Dec from 15:30
Custom

Nos Galan Road Races

Sets off from Oxford Street, Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf

Wednesday 6 January

Wed 6 Jan 14:30 16:00
Custom

Haxey Hood

St Nicholas Church, Haxey, Lincolnshire

Saturday 23 January

Saturday 30 January

Tuesday 2 February

Tuesday 9 February

Folklore from the old calendars

Cock-throwing given up at Newcastle No longer kept NorthumberlandBy 1777 the Shrove Tuesday sport of throwing at cocks had been given up at Newcastle upon Tyne.
Cock broth for Shrovetide husbands No longer kept EnglandOn Shrove Tuesday the boys threw at cocks and killed them, and the birds went into the pot.
Six silver glaives for the Chester runners No longer kept CheshireEvery Shrove Tuesday the shoemakers of Chester gave the drapers a leather football before the mayor at the cross on the Roodee, and the game was played from there to the Common Hall.
The owl in the Shrovetide pot at North Walsham No longer kept NorfolkAt North Walsham, about forty years before Strutt wrote, some jokers put an owl into the earthen pot used for Shrove Tuesday cock-throwing, and fixed the head and tail of a dead cock so they showed as a live bird's would.
Leaden cocks at Shrovetide No longer kept EnglandWhen throwing at live cocks was stopped, toy cocks on heavy lead stands were put up for the boys at Shrovetide wakes and fairs, and whoever knocked one over kept it.
Threshing the fat hen in Essex and Suffolk No longer kept Essex, SuffolkAt Shrovetide in Essex and Suffolk the farm men went shroving and threshed a fat hen, and if a blindfolded man could kill her she was theirs.
Shrovetide cockfights at Crosthwaite school No longer kept CumberlandAt Shrovetide the scholars of the school in Crosthwaite parish each brought a cock to fight at the school, and gave the master a present of money for allowing it.
The Bromfield silver bell and churchyard football No longer kept CumberlandWhen the Bromfield scholars had barred out their master at Fastings Even, one of the terms they always won was a cock-fight and a football match.
The Shrovetide ball and the bull-ring Still kept County DurhamIn a Durham town Hazlitt calls Sedgwick (Sedgefield), townspeople and country folk played a Shrovetide ball match.
Shrove Tuesday football at Dorking No longer kept SurreyDorking played football through its main streets every Shrove Tuesday, and shopkeepers barricaded their fronts for the afternoon.
The Danes and the Shrove Tuesday cocks No longer kept EnglandThrowing at cocks on Shrove Tuesday was said to be revenge on the birds whose crowing had betrayed an English plot against the Danes.
The victor of the Shrovetide cock-fight No longer kept West CountryOn Shrove Tuesday the schoolboy whose cock had beaten all the rest went through the streets in triumph, decked with ribbons.
Great A, little A, this is pancake day No longer kept Northern EnglandIn parts of the north of England girls spent some of Shrove Tuesday playing battledore and shuttlecock, singing a rhyme as they played.
The football over Alnwick Castle wall Still kept NorthumberlandBrand was told, and saw for himself on 5 February 1788, that at Alnwick the town waits came playing to the castle at two o'clock every Shrove Tuesday.
Cocks for the Poor Rate at Pinner No longer kept MiddlesexIn the hamlet of Pinner, by Harrow on the Hill, throwing at cocks on Shrove Tuesday was a parish occasion, and the money it raised went towards the poor rate: the accounts record twelve shillings received for cocks at Shrovetide in 1622.
The Wives’ Football at Inveresk No longer kept MidlothianSir Frederick Eden, drawing on the Statistical Account of Scotland, recorded a standing Shrove Tuesday football match in a Midlothian parish between the married and the unmarried women.
Fitz-Stephen’s Shrovetide No longer kept LondonThe earliest account of Shrovetide sport in England comes from William Fitz-Stephen, who died in 1191.
Throwing at Cocks No longer kept England, NorfolkThrowing sticks at a tethered cock was an old and cruel Shrove Tuesday sport, which Hone was glad to see dying out among decent people.
The Cock-penny No longer kept Ross and Cromarty, ScotlandCock-fighting was a regular Shrovetide sport, and in many schools it was sanctioned by the master, who took a small fee from each boy called the cock-penny.
Football Day at Kingston No longer kept Middlesex, SurreyA Quaker travelling to Kingston upon Thames on Shrove Tuesday 1815 was told by the coachman that it was Football Day.
Ludlow Rope-pulling No longer kept ShropshireOn Shrove Tuesday the Ludlow corporation handed a thick rope, thirty-six yards long, out of a window of the Market Hall at four o'clock.
Threshing the Hen No longer kept Cornwall, WalesA hen that had not laid before Shrove Tuesday was counted useless.
The Ba’ of Scone No longer kept PerthshireChambers knew of no place where Shrovetide football was played with more energy than Scone, near Perth.
The Pancake Greaze Still kept LondonAt eleven on Shrove Tuesday a verger of Westminster Abbey with a silver baton led the school cook, in white apron, jacket and cap, into the schoolroom carrying a pancake.

Tue 9 Feb 14:00 22:00
Custom, day 1 of 2

Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide Football

Sets off from Shaw Croft car park, Ashbourne, Derbyshire
Tue 9 Feb 14:00 17:00
Custom

Alnwick Shrovetide Football

Alnwick Castle barbican, Alnwick, Northumberland

Wednesday 10 February

Wed 10 Feb Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide Football day 2 of 2 · 14:00–22:00

Monday 1 March

Mon 1 Mar from 18:00
Custom

Lanark Whuppity Scoorie

St Nicholas Parish Church, Lanark, South Lanarkshire

Friday 26 March

Sunday 28 March

Monday 29 March

Folklore from the old calendars

Hand-ball for a tansy cake No longer kept EnglandIn the Easter holidays work stopped and servants were given their liberty, and the favourite pastime was playing at hand-ball for a tansy cake.
The hare-pie scramble at Hallaton Still kept LeicestershireOn Easter Monday the rector of Hallaton provided pies, ale and penny loaves to be scrambled for, under a bequest of land once called Hare-crop Leys.
Trundling eggs at Holywood No longer kept UlsterAt Holywood, Easter eggs were boiled hard, dyed and rolled along the ground, especially down a slope, and the broken pieces were eaten.
Tilting on the Thames at Easter No longer kept LondonFitzStephen, writing in the twelfth century and quoted by Stow, describes a water game played by the young men of London in the Easter holidays.
Old Vinegar and the Moorfields cudgel players No longer kept LondonIn the old days the cudgel players' sports in Moorfields began on Easter Monday.
The corporation at ball on the Forth No longer kept NorthumberlandCorporations once went out in state to play at ball at Easter.
The old women’s trap-ball at Bury No longer kept SuffolkA correspondent told Hone of a ball custom still kept every year at Bury St Edmunds.
The sheriffs’ breakfast at Chester No longer kept CheshireEvery man married in Chester who had not finished his first year of marriage had to give the drapers' guild a silver arrow as a prize for archery.
Easter football on the Roodee No longer kept CheshireAt Easter the mayor and corporation of Chester and the city's twenty guilds went in procession to the Roodee to play football.
The Epping Hunt No longer kept EssexHenry III confirmed to the citizens of London the right to hunt around their city, and the Lord Mayor and aldermen once rode out to hunt in state.

Mon 29 Mar 11:00 16:00
Custom

Preston Egg Rolling

Sets off from Avenham Park, Preston, Lancashire
Mon 29 Mar from 13:45
Custom

Hallaton Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking

St Michael and All Angels Church, Hallaton, Leicestershire

Sunday 4 April

Friday 23 April

Saturday 1 May

Thursday 6 May New moon

Sunday 9 May

Friday 14 May

Sunday 16 May

Monday 17 May

Wednesday 19 May

Saturday 22 May

Monday 24 May

Monday 31 May

Thursday 24 June

Monday 28 June

Sunday 25 July

Friday 30 July

Fri 30 Jul from 05:00
Custom

Langholm Common Riding

Sets off from Market Place, Langholm, Dumfries and Galloway

Sunday 1 August

Wednesday 4 August

Monday 16 August

Tuesday 17 August Sturgeon Moon

Saturday 21 August

Sat 21 Aug from 14:00
Custom

Cilgerran Coracle Races

Sets off from River Teifi at Dolbadau, Cilgerran, Pembrokeshire
- Custom game
- Sports and Games

Tuesday 24 August

Friday 3 September

Saturday 18 September

Sat 18 Sep All day
Custom

Egremont Crab Fair

Sets off from Main Street, Egremont, Cumbria

Not tied to a day

Sports and Games not tied to a day of the year.

Folklore from the old calendars

A pie sat on a pear tree No longer kept NorfolkA correspondent wrote to Hone on 3 May 1826 about a drinking game at Yarmouth dinners once the cloth was drawn and the ladies had gone.
Bearing the Bell No longer kept EnglandHone noted that horse racing, with its rules for training, weights and prizes, was already settled in the reign of James I.
Bone Skates in Moorfields No longer kept LondonFitzStephen's description of London in the twelfth century tells how, when the marshes of Moorfields froze, the young men tied the leg-bones of animals under their feet with thongs and slid over the ice, pushing themselves along with iron-shod poles.
Cornish Hurling Still kept CornwallHone describes hurling as peculiar to Cornwall: a contest between two sides of forty to sixty men, often two parishes, for a wooden ball about three inches across, covered with silver, sometimes gilt, and often bearing the motto Fair play is good play.
Cornish Wrestling and the Hug Still kept CornwallHone set Cornish wrestling beside hurling as a sport the Cornish delighted in, and explained that it differed from the Devon style: Cornwall was famous for the hug, Devon for kicking shins, and kicks were not allowed in Cornwall unless both men agreed.
Curling and the Bonspiel Still kept Northumberland, ScotlandHone describes curling as a parish game of Scotland, played in winter when the waters would bear, and also known in Northumberland and other northern parts of England.
Grinning through a Horse-collar No longer kept DorsetWhen his Dorset village celebrated the peace in August 1814, W.
High Jinks No longer kept MidlothianHigh jinks was a Scottish drinking game with dice, played by the Saturday night club at Daunie Douglas's tavern in Anchor Close, Edinburgh, and described in Guy Mannering.
Irish football at Copenhagen House No longer kept LondonA correspondent told Hone in 1826 that in fine weather Irishmen played football every Sunday afternoon in the fields between Oldfield's dairy and Copenhagen House near Islington, from three o'clock until dusk.
Ninepenny Marl Still kept WiltshireA correspondent told Hone in July 1826 of an ancient game played by the shepherds of Salisbury Plain and the village people round about, called Ninepenny Marl, which he had never seen described in print.
Old Penglaze and the tinker’s shop No longer kept CornwallA correspondent sent Hone two indoor games of the Cornish country people, which Davies Gilbert had listed with the carols as dying out, though the writer said the carol parties still went from house to house in the western parishes.
Sham battles on the Sundays in Lent No longer kept LondonOn every Sunday in Lent in the twelfth century, crowds of young Londoners rode out into the fields after dinner on trained war horses.

Sunday 11 October

Saturday 31 October

Friday 13 November

Sunday 15 November

Monday 30 November

Friday 25 December

Saturday 26 December

Sunday 27 December

Thursday 31 December

Wednesday 6 January

Saturday 23 January

Saturday 30 January

Tuesday 2 February

Tuesday 9 February

Wednesday 10 February

Monday 1 March

Friday 26 March

Sunday 28 March

Monday 29 March

Sunday 4 April

Friday 23 April

Saturday 1 May

Thursday 6 May🌑 New moon

Sunday 9 May

Friday 14 May

Sunday 16 May

Monday 17 May

Wednesday 19 May

Saturday 22 May

Monday 24 May

Monday 31 May

Thursday 24 June

Monday 28 June

Sunday 25 July

Friday 30 July

Sunday 1 August

Wednesday 4 August

Monday 16 August

Tuesday 17 August🌕 Sturgeon Moon

Saturday 21 August

Tuesday 24 August

Friday 3 September

Saturday 18 September

Not tied to a day

Image credits

Thursday 6 May New moon

Tuesday 17 August Sturgeon Moon