The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 1 of 2): With Tunes, Singing-Rhymes and Methods of Playing etc.Gomme, Alice Bertha
History
The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol 1 of 2): With Tunes, Singing-Rhymes and Methods of Playing etc.
Gomme, Alice Bertha
Folklore -- Great Britain; Games -- Great Britain
Each player selects a Cast or stone to pitch with; on another stone,
called the Hob, the Cots and Twys are placed; at some distance Scops are
set in the ground. First the players pitch from the Hob to the Scop, and
the one who gets nearest goes first. He then pitches at the Hob, and if
he knocks off the stakes he has them, provided his Cast is nearer to
them than the Hob is; in failure of this, the other player tries. In
pitching up, one Cast may rest on another, and if the boy whose stone
is underneath can lift it up to knock the other Cast away, it has to
remain at the place to which it has been struck; if he does not succeed
in doing this, the second player may lift off his Cast and place it by
the first. Whoever knocks off the stakes, they go to the boy whose Cast
is nearest to them. The Hob and Scop are usually three yards apart. The
Cot was a button off the waistcoat or trousers, the Twy one off the
coat, and, as its name implies, was equal to two Cots. Formerly, when
cash was much more rare than now it is amongst boys, these formed their
current coin. The game about 1820 seems to have been chiefly one of
tossing, and was played with buttons, then common enough. Now, metal
buttons being rare, it is played with pieces of brass or copper of any
shape. The expression, “I haven’t a cot,” is sometimes used to signify
that a person is without money.—Easther’s _Almondbury and Huddersfield
Glossary_.
See “Banger,” “Buttons.”
Course o’ Park
The game of “Course of the Park” has not been described, but is referred
to in the following verse:—
“Buff”’s a fine sport,
And so’s “Course o’ Park.”
—_The Slighted Maid_, 1663, p. 50.
Crab-sowl, Crab-sow
A game played with a bung or ball struck with sticks (Brogden’s
_Provincial Words, Lincolnshire_). This is played on Barnes Common, and
is apparently a form of “Hockey” (A. B. Gomme).
Crates
The game of “Nine Holes.” This is the game described by John Jones,
M.D., in his book called _The Benefit of the Auncient Bathes of
Buckstones_, 1572, p. 12, as having been played by ladies at Buxton for
their amusement in wet weather. See Pegge’s _Anonymiana_, 1818, p. 126,
and Addy’s _Sheffield Glossary_.
Cricket
A description of this game is not given here; its history and rules and
regulations are well known, and many books have been devoted to its
study. The word “Cricket” is given in Lawson’s _Upton-on-Severn Words
and Phrases_ as a low wooden stool. He continues, “The game of ‘Cricket’
was probably a development of the older game of ‘Stool-ball,’ a
dairymaid’s stool being used for the wicket.” Wedgwood (_Etym. Dict._)
suggests that the proper name for the bat was “cricket-staff,” A.-S.
_criec_, a staff.
See “Bittle-battle,” “Stool-ball.”
Crooky
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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