In memory of THOMAS RIDGE,
the Ecclesfield huntsman,
who died 13th day of January, 1871,
Aged 77 years.
Though fond of sport, devoted of the chase,
And with his fellow-hunters first in place,
He always kept the Lord's appointed day,
Never from church or Sunday-school away.
And now his body rests beneath the sod,
His soul relying in the love of God.
Of the many epitaphs on sportsmen to be seen in Nottinghamshire, we cull a
few of the choicest. Our first is a literal copy from a weather-worn stone
in Eakring churchyard, placed to the memory of Henry Cartwright, senior
keeper to his Grace the Duke of Kingston for fifty-five years, who died
February 13th, 1773, aged eighty years, ten months, and three weeks:--
My gun discharged, my ball is gone
My powder's spent, my work is done,
those panting deer I have left behind,
May now have time to Gain their wind,
Who I have oft times Chass'd them ore
the burial Plains, but now no more.
We next present particulars of a celebrated deer-stealer. According to a
notice furnished in the "Nottingham Date Book," the deeds of Tom Booth
were for many years after his death a never-failing subject of
conversational interest in Nottingham. It is stated that no modern
deer-stealer was anything like so popular. Thorsby relates one exploit as
follows: "In Nottingham Park, at one time, was a favourite fine deer, a
chief ranger, on which Tom and his wily companions had often cast their
eyes; but how to deceive the keeper while they killed it was a task of
difficulty. The night, however, in which they accomplished their
purpose--whether by any settled plan or not is not known--they found the
keeper at watch, as usual, in a certain place in the park. One of them,
therefore, went in an opposite direction in the park, and fired his gun to
make the keeper believe he had shot a deer; upon which away goes the
keeper, in haste, to the spot, which was at a very considerable distance
from the place where the favourite deer was, and near which Tom Booth was
skulking. Tom, waiting a proper time, when he thought the keeper at a
sufficient distance for accomplishing his purpose, fired and killed the
deer, and dragged it through the river Leen undiscovered." Booth was a
stout man, and by trade a whitesmith. The stone marking the place of his
interment is still in good preservation, and stands in St. Nicholas'
burial-ground, against the southern wall of the church. It bears the
following inscription:--
Here lies a marksman, who with art and skill,
When young and strong, fat bucks and does did kill.
Now conquered by grim Death (go, reader, tell it!)
He's now took leave of powder, gun, and pellet.
A fatal dart, which in the dark did fly,
Has laid him down, among the dead to lie.
If any want to know the poor slave's name,
'Tis old Tom Booth,--ne'er ask from whence he came.
Old Tom was so highly pleased with the epitaph, which was written before
his death, that he had it engraved on the stone some months before its
services were required. In addition to the epitaph itself, the head-stone
was made to include Booth's name, &c., and also that of his wife, blank
places being left in each case for the age and time of death. Booth's
compartment of the stone was in due course properly filled up; but the
widow, disliking the exhibition of her name on a tombstone while living,
resolved that such stone should never indicate her resting place when
dead; she accordingly left an injunction that her body be interred
elsewhere, and the inscription is incomplete to this day.
Some time before Amos Street, a celebrated Yorkshire huntsman died, a
stone was obtained, and on it engraved the following lines:--
This is to the memory of Old Amos,
Who was when alive for hunting famous;
But now his chases are all o'er,
And here he's earth'd, of years four score.
Upon this tomb he's often sat
And tried to read his epitaph;
And thou who dost so at this moment
Shall ere long like him be dormant.
Poor "Old Amos" passed away on October 3rd, 1777, and was buried in
Birstal churchyard. The foregoing inscription may still be read.
The Rev. R. H. Whitworth tells us: "There is an old monument in the south
aisle of Blidworth Church, to the memory of Thomas Leake, Esq., who was
killed at Blidworth Rocking in A.D. 1598. He may be regarded as the last
of the race who sat in Robin Hood's seat, if those restless Forest Chiefs,
typified under that name, can be supposed ever to have sat at all. Leake
held office under the Crown, but was as wild a freebooter as ever drew
bow. His character is portrayed in his epitaph--
HERE RESTS T. LEAKE WHOSE VERTUES WEERE SO KNOWNE
IN ALL THESE PARTS THAT THIS ENGRAVED STONE
NEEDS NAVGHT RELATE BVT HIS VNTIMELY END
WHICH WAS IN SINGLE FIGHT: WYLST YOUTH DID LEND
HIS AYDE TO VALOR, HEE WTH EASE OREPAST
MANY SLYGHT DANGERS, GREATER THEN THIS LAST
BVT WILLFVLLE FATE IN THESE THINGS GOVERNS ALL
HEE TOWLD OVT THREESCORE YEARS BEFORE HIS FALL
MOST OF WCH TYME HE WASTED IN THIS WOOD
MVCH OF HIS WEALTH AND LAST OF ALL HIS BLOOD
The border of this monument is rudely panelled, each panel having some
forest hunting subject in relief. There are hounds getting scent, and a
hound pursuing an antlered stag; a hunting horn, ribboned; plunging and
flaying knives, a cross-bow, a forest-bow, two arrows, and two hunters'
belts with arrows inserted. This is his register--
Thomas Leake, esquire, buried the
4th February, 1598.
There is a captivating bit of romance connected with Leake's death, which
occurred at Archer's Water. Although somewhat 'provectus in ætate,' he had
won the affections of the landlady's daughter, much to the annoyance of
the mother. Archer's Water was on the old driftroad by Blidworth, from
Edinburgh to London, that by which Jeannie Deans travelled, and over which
Dick Turpin rode. Hundreds of thousands of Scotch cattle went by this way
to town, and there was a difficulty connected with a few of them in which
Leake was concerned, and a price being set upon his head, his
mother-in-law, that was to be, betrayed him to two young soldiers anxious
to secure the reward, one of whom was, in the mother's eyes, the more
favoured lover. Tom was always attended by two magnificent dogs and went
well armed. Thrown off his guard he left his dogs in an outhouse, and
entering the inn laid aside his weapons, when he was set upon and
overpowered, and like many better men before him, slain. The name of a
Captain Salmond of the now extinct parish or manor of Salterford is
connected with this transaction. The date of the combat is 2nd February,
being the festival of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, with which
the highly interesting and historical observance of Blidworth _Rocking_ is
connected. Within the memory of living men, a baby decked with such
flowers as the season afforded, was placed in a cradle and carried about
from house to house by an old man, who received a present on the occasion.
As the church is dedicated to St. Mary in connection with the
Purification, the 2nd of February being the Feast Day, this is probably an
interesting reminiscence of some old species of Miracle Play, or
observance connected with the foundation. Anciently people from all
neighbouring counties used to attend this season. Forest games were
played, and amid the attendant licence and confusion, Leake came to his
last grief. Not only in the church does this Ranger of the Blidworth Wood,
for this was his office, possess a memorial. A large cross was erected,
now standing at Fountain Dale, thus inscribed:--
Hoc crucis fragmen
Traditum a sylvicolis monumentum
Loci ubi in singulari certamine
Gladiator ille insignis
Tho. Leake
Mori occubuit
Anno MDCVIII.
Ab antiqua sede remotum
H. P. C.
Joannes Downall
Prid. Non Sext. MDCCCXXXVI.
What became of the daughter tradition sayeth not. Doubtless she died, as
Tom Leake's intended bride ought, of grief, and was buried under some
grand old oak in Blidworth Forest."
Let us direct attention to another class of sportsmen. At Bunney, a
monument is erected to Sir Thomas Parkyns, the well-known wrestler. It
bears four lines in Latin, which have been translated thus:--
At length he falls, the long contest's o'er,
And Time has thrown whom none e'er threw before;
Yet boast not (Time) thy victory, for he
At last shall rise again and conquer thee.
The next is copied from a stone in St. Michael's churchyard, Coventry, on
a famous fencing-master:--
To the memory of Mr. John Parkes,
A native of this City
He was a man of mild disposition,
A Gladiator by profession;
Who after having fought 350 battles,
In the principal parts of Europe,
With honour and applause,
At length quitted the stage, sheathed his sword,
And with Christian resignation,
Submitted to the Grand Victor
In the 52nd year of his age
Anno Domini 1733.
An old stone bearing the foregoing inscription was replaced by a new one
some years ago at the expense of the late S. Carter, Esq., formerly member
of parliament for Coventry. In the pages of the _Spectator_ honourable
mention is made of John Parkes.
In the churchyard of Hanslope, is buried Sandy M'Kay, the Scottish giant,
who was killed in a prize-fight with Simon Byrne. A headstone bears the
following inscription:--
Sacred to the memory of
ALEX. M'KAY,
(Late of Glasgow),
Who died 3rd June, 1834,
Aged 26 years.
Strong and athletic was my frame;
Far from my native home I came,
And manly fought with Simon Byrne;
Alas! but lived not to return.
Reader, take warning of my fate,
Lest you should rue your case too late:
If you ever have fought before,
Determine now to fight no more.
We are informed that Byrne was killed shortly afterwards, whilst engaged
in fighting.
From the prize-ring let us turn to the more satisfactory amusement of
cricket. In Highgate cemetery, Lillywhite, the celebrated cricketer, is
buried, and over his remains is placed a monument with the significant
emblem of a wicket being upset with a ball.
The following lines are said to be copied from the tombstone in a cemetery
near Salisbury:--
I bowl'd, I struck, I caught, I stopp'd,
Sure life's a game of cricket;
I block'd with care, with caution popp'd,
Yet Death has hit my wicket.
The Tennis Ball is introduced in an epitaph placed in St. Michael's
Church, Coventry. It reads thus:--
"Here lyes the Body of Captain Gervase Scrope, of the Family of
Scropes, of Bolton, in the County of York, who departed this life the
26th day of August, Anno Domini, 1705."
AN EPITAPH WRITTEN BY HIMSELF IN THE AGONY AND DOLOROUS PAINES OF THE
GOUT, AND DYED SOON AFTER.
Here lyes an Old Toss'd Tennis Ball,
Was Racketted from Spring to Fall
With so much heat, and so much hast,
Time's arm (for shame) grew tyr'd at last,
Four Kings in Camps he truly seru'd,
And from his Loyalty ne'r sweru'd.
Father ruin'd, the Son slighted,
And from the Crown ne'r requited.
Loss of Estate, Relations, Blood,
Was too well Known, but did no good,
With long Campaigns and paines of th' Govt,
He cou'd no longer hold it out:
Always a restless life he led,
Never at quiet till quite dead,
He marry'd in his latter dayes,
One who exceeds the com'on praise,
But wanting breath still to make Known
Her true Affection and his Own,
Death kindly came, all wants supply'd
By giuing Rest which life deny'd.
We conclude this class of epitaphs with a couple of piscatorial examples.
The first is from the churchyard of Hythe:--
His net old fisher George long drew,
Shoals upon shoals he caught,
'Till Death came hauling for his due,
And made poor George his draught.
Death fishes on through various shapes,
In vain it is to fret;
Nor fish nor fisherman escapes
Death's all-enclosing net.
In the churchyard of Great Yarmouth, under date of 1769, an epitaph runs
thus:--
Here lies doomed,
In this vault so dark,
A soldier weaver, _angler_, and clerk;
Death snatched him hence, and from him took
His gun, his shuttle, fish-rod, and hook.
He could not weave, nor fish, nor fight, so then
He left the world, and faintly cried--Amen.