I came across and article by a guy called Allan Richardson, a local historian, its not big so I though I would copy it as we talk about Lancashire in the 19th century but there was an annual tournament in Newcastle.
Here is the Article:
Newcastle’s Secret Park and the Hidden History of City Fun
Most Newcastle residents are familiar with Leazes Park, Exhibition Park, Gosforth Park and Jesmond Dene. But few are aware that there’s a park hidden away in central Newcastle. You can be forgiven for not knowing it’s there, after all two of its three entrances are completely sealed off and you have to walk through an abandoned car park to get in. It’s not exactly nestled in luscious parkland either—on one side are highly contaminated lead works and on the other a derelict wasteland formerly home to railway stables.
The Redheugh Bridge Park is not somewhere you find by accident on a nice leisurely stroll around the city centre. It is tucked away under the Redheugh Bridge, and was presumably built by Newcastle City Council during the construction of the third version of the crossing. Its existence has never been publicised and there are scant references to it online. What is especially baffling is that the park has always been remote and uninviting—it seems like an unusual place to try and carve out a slice of serenity.
Evidently very little effort goes into maintaining the park and it is essentially in a state of dereliction. After negotiating inaccessible entrances and fighting through undergrowth, the parkgoer is sure to be disappointed by what they find—a series of benches whose design is obviously drawn from the distant industrial influences of the area. It’s possible that the park is a casualty of the recession, certainly two of the entrances seem to have been fenced off between 2008 and 2012.
The present surroundings of the park make its location questionable, but looking back into the history of the Forth Banks area reveal the park to be a real anachronism. Although the area became heavily industrialised in the second half of the 19th century, The Forth previously lay just outside of the boundaries of the city wall. In his early 1736 account of Newcastle, Henry Bourne describes the Forth as ‘a place of pleasure and recreation’. Bourne alludes to—but does not expand on—’an ancient custom for the Mayor, Aldermen and Sheriff of this town, accompanied with great Numbers of the burgesses, to go every year at the feast of Easter and Whitsunday to the Forth, with the maces, sword and cap of maintenance carried before them’.
R.J. Charleton, writing in 1885, sheds further light on this ancient custom. As well as being a centre of leisure with a permanent bowling green and pleasant walking grounds, the Forth annually played host to an event called the Easter Hopping. This appears to have been a grand fair attended by many of the residents of Newcastle and the disparate villages surrounding it which it would later engulf. The Easter Hopping boasted shows and booths with all kinds of delights.
One of the main crowd pleasers was the show of Billy Purvis. Purvis was a stalwart of 19th century North East England and was a forerunner to the modern celebrity. Purvis’s ‘popularity was established by his performance at fairs, races, feasts, Hoppings, and other similar places of public amusement’ all around the North East, where he would dexterously play the part of ‘dancing-master, conjurer, piper, play-actor and showman’.Writing in 1857, just four years after Purvis’s death, Forydyce notes that he would ‘not unfrequently [be] exhibiting at the mansions of the gentry’.
Some of the other attractions of the Forth during the Easter Hopping were also permanent fixtures. These included the Newcastle Circus and a wrestling ground where tournaments were regularly held.
The precise location of this wrestling ground turns out not to be far away from the Redheugh Bridge Park. The first edition Ordnance Survey plan from 1855 lists the land that would eventually become the railway stables (which were knocked down to create the wasteland neighbouring the park) as being a ‘Wrestling Ground’! This is the exact location where the ‘Newcastle upon Tyne Wrestling and Great Northern Games’ was held every year until the North East Railway Company bought the land in 1876.
The constant sources of pleasure in the Forth led some to call it the People’s Park, so all told it is not quite the most unusual place to find the Redheugh Bridge Park. The area’s use started to shift from a rural place of communal leisure toward heavy industrialisation in the middle of the 18th century, and in 1752 the Newcastle Infirmary opened in the Forth. New streets were built through it, including Neville Street and Scotswood Road, and in 1850 railway lines cut through the heart of the Forth to the new Central Station which was built opposite the location of the old circus.
The curious name of the area—the Forth—likely comes from the old English ‘firth’ which denoted ‘a space between trees or a shady place’. Some have speculated that this may refer to the area’s relative position ‘in the shade’ of Newcastle’s town wall, but according to Charleton the name dates back to ‘ancient times’ when ‘the Forth was covered by a dark and gloomy forest, sacred to the rites of the Druids’. According to him, the first mention of the name is ‘when Henry III licensed the townsmen to dig for coals and stone [in a] certain field called Le Frythe’.
The remnants of something in the depths of a derelict wasteland in Forth Banks. Strip away a layer and you’ll find it was a railway stable. Strip away another and you’ll find it was a wrestling ground and the site of Newcastle’s own version of the Olympics.
Clover of Ireland Ruslan?
You had better alter that to Shamrock, before you start something.
Me and my obsession over belts. Enjoy.
Belt's buckle is decorated with Rose of England, Thistle of Scotland and Clover of Ireland designs.
I haven't looked at the link in any depth but I haven't noticed your name but did just glance, some of the museums are are funny, they hate that 'gifted' amateurs tend to know more in a lot of cases than their 'experts '.
Powerlock, they did use my material in their blog, yet no mention of me, hahahah.
Anyways. Just saying.
I am trying to find out about the site too Ruslan and as it was in use from the 1830s with an Easter Hopping Fair I am trying to fill some gaps hence the contact with the Showmans Guild.
Have spoken today with the Archive people at Newcastle Discovery Museum, They have nothing on the wrestling tournaments and not very much on the Easter Hoppings Fair. I will be contacting the Showmans Guild to see if they can shed any light on the subject.
Have spoken today with the Archive people at Newcastle Discovery Museum, They have nothing on the wrestling tournaments and not very much on the Easter Hoppings Fair. I will be contacting the Showmans Guild to see if they can shed any light on the subject.
Yes the arena will become defunct in the next few years as the new development on the Gateshead side come to fruition, let's hope the archaeological inspection is thorough before it and the historical sites disappear under whatever is built there.
Interesting read, I've done work around that area and heard of the forth, here is a pdf map and more details of that area. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.newcastle.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2020-01/Forth%2520Yards%2520Development%2520Framework.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwih487V7dryAhXCoVwKHcUMBfEQFnoECG8QAQ&usg=AOvVaw0ry6gne7urzYkjwOjgsixO
Looking at some of the locations from which the contestant travelled, a fair distance in those days, it would suggest that Cumberland and Westmorland style was predominant.
Thanks for this I was totally unaware of this park and since my visit to Newcastle back in May illustrated the amount of changes that have taken place in the City it is interesting that this place is still, almost, accessible.
William Jameson who won in 1861 and 1862 and so took a belt is featured in a terrific online article here and his trophies are in a museum in Penrith.
https://www.penrithmuseumblog.com/post/champion-wrestler-of-england-a-look-at-museums-cumberland-wrestling-collection
Yes and Decies had special prizes for Northumberland men so to encourage them to learn the Cumberland style. Think I read somewhere in all this that the Newcastle Great Northern Games started in 1839 or near that date.
Good thread gentlemen. Thanks. Charles Dickens who was a big fan of Cumberland back-hold and admirer of T. Longmire in his writings mentioned "beautiful elaborate Newcastle belts (yes, your Decies Belt among them Ron), and unattractive, primitive looking Manchester belts (hahaha)". Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling Society was running their annual championship open to all tourneys in all big cities of England. They were popularizing their sport. In Manchester they had their annual tourney from the mid 1830s. Lankies also participated, and they even had their own category called "Cumberland wrestling by Lancashire men". Then at some point that division was canceled. The newspaper reports say that Lankies were not familiar with back-hold techniques at all, nor they wanted to properly learn it from the experts, i.e. Cumbrians, hence event for Lankies was discontinued. Since then it was mostly natives of Cumbria and Westmorland who competed in those events, various weight classes and yes overall championship all-weight tourney.
Fast forwards 10 years and Lord Decies brought belts back in 1861-1865.
He put a two year rule on keeping a belt outright.
Left this is the 1863 advertisement which went in many papers to attract entrants from all over the
North.
Right . a great description of the belt.
In 1861 and 1862 William Jameson of Penrith beat Dick Wright and so took a belt outright.
Dick Wright of Longtown won in 1863 but failed in 1864 so I assume never owned the belt.
Matthew Lee of Leapsrigg
won in 1964 and 65 and so kept the belt , I assume , the same belt that Wright had won in 1863. From then on there was a silver cup , medals and a Gold Watch all Lord Decies prizes.
So if I have done my work right , five men had belts and I doubt if the 1850's belts were quite the same as the Decies ones.
that is superb stuff Ron, I will send in some info to the archive over the weekend , the lady I spoke to has said she will start on Tuesday as it has piqued her interest.
As I find things in no particular order 1852 William Donald of Dearham won the 11 stone class and I take it he got the belt.
1851 the belt went to the heavies and it was Thomas Longmire of Troutbeck who won the belt.
1853 saw the completion of all three weights being awarded a belt over three years with Joseph Harrington of Keswick winning the nine and a half stones class.
The competitions were done in a large ring and I think for the wrest of the decade winners got medals and prize money.
Must say that they worked hard to progress , plenty of competitors.
In 1854 the Frenchman took people on in a significantly different style that nobody could master and was undefeated but it was reported that this was underwhelming.
Brilliant Ron, I noticed a French wrestler mentioned, and the French style, I am wondering if they were exhibition matches or number of styles took place that year. The lady at the archive was very interested as it was something she hadn't come across before, so was looking forward to find out what she could.
I thought if we get winners information it might help with where the belts went.
Quite a few newspapers carried these adverts , Newcastle Journal , Carlisle Journal , Carlisle Patriot , Newcastle Guardian , North and South Shield Gazette.
Belts came back again in the 1860's and I have seen some of the winners. A Society held the bouts and gave them outright if you won one two years running. I think that was in the 1860's and 1870's. Think the belts were velvet with white edge.
Almost certainly Cumberland wrestling , I would have thought . As soon as I have chance I can expand this a bit. It's a whole piece of research in itself. I had not wanted to get into it so deep , but appreciate we do have a few people interested in this on here and that's what counts.
I haven't got them Ron, The Tyne and Wear archives at the Discovery Museum may have some information. I will give them a ring over the next few days.
So True and for three years and three weights a champions belt was awarded then a switch to medals. Where are those belts Powerlock.