Today we cover two of the traditional sports of Cornwall. We know the faeries play at least one of them, for they use monolithic stones as their goalposts for hurling. Again, this episode is wall to wall quotations

Hurling

THE game of ” Hurling” was, until a recent period, played in the parishes to the west of Penzance on the Sunday after- noon. The game was usually between two parishes, sometimes between Burian and Sancreed, or against St Leven and Sennen, or the higher side of the parish played against the lower side. The run was from Burian Cross in the Church-town, to the Pipers in Boloeit. All the gentry from the surrounding parishes
would meet at Boloeit to see the ball brought in. ” Hurling matches are peculiar to Cornwall. They are trials of skill between two parties, consisting of a considerable number of men, forty to sixty a side, and often between two parishes. These exercises have their name from “hurling” a wooden ball, about three inches in diameter, covered with a plate of silver, which is sometimes gilt, and has commonly a motto,”Gware wheag yeo gware teag,” ” Fair play is good play.” The success depends on catching the ball dexterously when thrown up, or dealt, and carrying it off expeditiously, in spite of all opposition from the adverse party ; or, if that be impossible, throwing ‘it into the hands of a partner, who in his turn, exerts his efforts to convey it to his own goal, which  is often three or four miles’ distance. This sport, therefore, requires a nimble hand, a quick eye, a swift foot, and skill in wrestling ; as well as strength, good wind, and lungs.

Formerly it was practised annually by those who attended corporate bodies in surveying the bounds of parishes ; but from the many accidents that usually attended that game, it is now scarcely ever practised. Silver prizes used to be awarded to the victor in the games. A correspondent at St Ives writes : HURLING THE SILVER BALL, This old custom is still observed at St Ives. The custom is also kept up at St Columb and St Blazey, on the anniversary of the dedication of the church. St Ives Feast is governed by the Candlemas-day, it being the nearest Sunday next before that day. On the Monday after, the inhabitants assemble on the beach, when the ball, which is left in the custody of the mayor for the time being, is thrown from the churchyard to the crowd. The sides are formed in this way, “Toms, Wills, and Jans, Take off all’s on the san’s” that is, all those of the name of Thomas, John, or William are ranged on one side, those of any other Christian name on the other ; of late years the odd names outnumbered the Toms, Wills, and Jans. There is a pole erected on the beach, and each side strives to get the oftenest at the “goold,” i.e., the pole ; the other side as manfully striving to keep them out, and to send their opponents as great a distance from the pole as possible. The tradition is, that the contest used to be between the parishes of Ludgvan, Lelant, and St Ives, St Ives then being part of the living of Ludgvan, and that they used to have a friendly hurling at Ludgvan, and that afterwards the contest was between Lelant and St Ives. A stone near to Captain Perry’s house is shown, where the two parishes used to meet at the feast, and the struggle was to throw the ball into the parish church, the successful party keeping
the ball, the unsuccessful buying a new one. St Ives is said to have out- numbered the Lelant folks, so that they gave up the contest, and the ball was left with St Ives. Thus much is certain that the feasts of St Ives, Lelant, and Ludgvan fall properly on one Sunday, though a misunderstanding has arisen, Lelant claiming to be governed by the day before Candlemas-day, which will alter the three every seven years. The game of hurling is now but rarely played, and the Sabbath is never broken by that or by any other game.

The faction fight at the Cury Great Tree

ON a green knoll in the centre of the intersection of the roads from Helston to the Lizard, and Mawgan to Cury, flourished an ash-tree of magnificent dimensions. The peculiarity of its position, together with its unusual size, in the midst of a district singularly destitute of trees, rendered it famous throughout the surrounding neighbourhood ; and in designating a special locality, reference was, and still continues to be, made to “Cury Great Tree,” as a position generally known. During the last fifty years the tree has been gradually decaying, and at present only a portion of the hollow trunk remains, which is rapidly disappearing. It stands about half way up a gentle rise facing the north ; and in passing over the road, the country people speak of a dim tradition of a time when the ” road ran with blood.” The occasion of this, which is almost forgotten, was a faction fight, on a large scale, between the men of the parishes of Wendron and Breage, happening
about a hundred years since. A wreck took place near the Lizard, and the Wendron-men being nearest, were soon upon the spot to appropriate whatever flotsam and jetsam might come in their way. Returning laden with their spoils, they were encountered at the Great Tree by the Wendron-men bound on a similar errand, and a fight, as a matter of course, ensued, which was prolonged till the following day. The contest is said to have been a most terrible one, each party being armed with staves. The savage nature of the fight may be inferred from the following fact : A Wendron-man named Gluyas, having been disabled, was put upon the top of the roadside hedge, out of the melde, when
he was seen by a Breage termagant known as ” Prudy the Wicked,” and by her quickly dragged into the road, ” Prudy ” exclaiming- “Ef thee artn’t ded, I make thee,” suiting the action to the word by striking Gluyas with her patten iron until he was dead. There is some account of Prudy’s having been taken before the “Justice,” but she does not appear to have been punished. These fights between parishes were so common in those days that any death occurring in the fray was quietly passed over as a thing of course, and soon forgotten. ” So late as thirty years since it was unsafe to venture alone through the streets of the lower part of this town (Helston) after nightfall on a market-day owing to the frays of the Breage, Wendron, and Sithney men.” So writes a friend residing
in Helston.

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