Hungerford Revel

A correspondent described the Hungerford revel as he saw it in 1820, held about this time of year, though he could not remember the exact day. Its chief sport was backswording, twenty picked players from Wiltshire against twenty from Somerset, each with the left hand tied down, until blood ran from a head. There were also smock races for girls, a greasy pole with bacon on top, old women drinking hot tea for snuff and racing for a pound of tea, grinning through horse collars, a soaped pig, sack races for a cheese and donkey races. The minor sports might run on for four days.