In 1903 Richard Blakeborough (1850-1918), celebrated collector of North Riding folklore, wrote an article for a cheery weekly family newspaper called the Northern Weekly Gazette about cockfighting in the village of Hutton Rudby.
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| Cockfight in London: c1808 |
He had written on the subject before and he knew that cockfights hadn't stopped as soon as they were banned in England in 1835 (they haven't stopped yet), but now he had been contacted by Richard Robinson, a 68 year old retired farmer living in Old Battersby, who had anecdotes to tell him.
You can see from his article that Blakeborough enjoys the old North Riding dialect most of all. He was a dialect enthusiast, well known for his recitations and writings.
He begins
As late as 1850, many a main was fought in or near to that village on a good Sunday morning. And one Robert Dorking, a weaver about that date, possessed a bird of such note that on many occasions it was matched to fight some of the best birds in the North. These contests came off somewhere in Newcastle, whither Dorking tramped from Rudby with his bird.
(Robert Dorking's name was actually Robert Dalking, so I'll alter the name accordingly from now on)
The people of Hutton Rudby always knew, even before Dalking got out of the bed the next morning, when his bird had won.
"It was like in this way,"
said Richard Robinson,
"when Dalking's cocks lost, for he sometimes used to hug as many as four on his back – his missus used to come out with her head lapp'd up in a shawl, looking that dowly and never a word for nobody. She used to creep along with her head down, an' were as cross as a bear with a sore head. But when Dalking came home victorious, she was out with her best hood, fleeing all over the village to spread the good news; there was no ho'ding her back at such times."
