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Dear Grappling Fans, we all know about a great rivalry between the two regions of England most involved in professional wrestling, those of the North-West and the South-East. But we always assumed that pro wrestling, or to be more specific the catch-as-catch-can pro wrestling style, culturally belonged to the North-West and it was from that region it took its glorious start and victoriously marched over all lands of the Merrie Olde England. Despite that we learn from various nineteenth century sources that besides Lancashire wrestling there was also London based catch-as-catch-can tradition which was as old as the one of the Duchy of Red Rose.
“In our own country three principal styles are in vogue, the Devonshire and Cornwall in which kicking and hacking are allowed, the Cumberland, and the eastern counties commonly known as loose wrestling.”
Percy Longhurst, who was the honorary president of the British Amateur Wrestling Association for decades in the first half of the twentieth century also has shared his memories with this regard:
“I learned the game when I was quite a youngster and when I went to school in the South of England, I found I was quite able to hold my own in any rough-and-tumble struggle with school fellows much older and bigger than myself.”
“Many are the conversations I have had with the old men who recollect the days when wrestling, boxing and back sword were the favorite athletic pastimes in this part of England, and more than once I had talks with Sussex men who call to mind when bout of wrestling was of frequent occurrence on the turf outside the village alehouse all of which proves that not so many years ago wrestling was far from the dead letter in Southern England it now is.”
“This apathy that exists may however be said to be of comparatively recent growth, at one time south-country wrestlers had a reputation which if not quite equal to that of the men of the extreme west who in the time of our Queen Elizabeth were modestly styled the most expert wrestler in the whole world, was high and well-earned too.”
Although the style of wrestling which was popular among the natives of the South-East was catch-as-catch-can, in this particular variation of it wrestling on the ground was not habitual, which is confirmed by the above mentioned Longhurst as well:
“Of the ground wrestling I will say little and I will advise you to have nothing to do with it.”
For a very long time I was trying to find some credible evidences of the loose wrestling traditions of the South-East besides the second-hand accounts which as I said were available in plenty amounts. And finally I was lucky to find a couple of pieces of such evidences and build a strong link between them and I am happy to share here the materials from my “English Folk Wrestling Collection”.

From various sources we learn about a tradition of having an annual knock-out wrestling tournament with the prize of a boar’s head in the village of Hornchurch, in Essex. That Medieval custom survived all the way to the XIX century (which was reportedly revived in 1824) and was still actively practiced there till 1869.

Unfortunately, the contemporary newspaper reports and the memoirs of the witnesses (both these credible evidences will follow this foreword) of those wrestling matches don’t provide details regarding the style of wrestling which was practiced by the local men of Hornchurch, except for that every match was a two out of three falls affair. 

YE OLDE VILLAGE OF HORNCHURCH

being an illustrated historical Handbook of the Village and Parish of Hornchurch.

BY CHARLES THOMAS PERFECT, Author of "Our Village," "The Souvenir of Anzac Day, etc."

Wrestling for the Boar's Head.

The Millfield was celebrated for the ancient custom of wrestling for a Boar's Head on Christmas Day. There seems to be no reliable record as to when this quaint custom had its beginning, but in the Essex Review for April, 1890, it is referred to in the following passage from Hone's Every-day Book, 1826:

"On Christmas Day the following custom has been observed from time immemorial. The Lessee of the Tythes, which belong to New College, Oxford, supplies a Boar's Head, dressed and garnished with bay leaves, etc. In the afternoon it is carried in procession into the Millfield adjoining the Churchyard, where it is wrestled for, and it is afterwards feasted upon at one of the public houses by the rustic conqueror and his friends, with all the merriment peculiar to the season."

One of our oldest inhabitants, who witnessed many of the bouts for the Boar's Head, tells us that it was cooked at Hornchurch Hall, where the first slice was always cut off. It was then brought into the Millfield on a pitchfork, bedecked with ribbons and holly, and with an orange in its mouth. Often as many as twenty wrestlers competed for the prize.

In later years the wrestling match was between the men of Hornchurch and Romford, but, owing to its developing into rather a rowdy affair, the residents of Hornchurch petitioned for its discontinuance, and it was accordingly done away with. On the Christmas afternoon of 1868 the Boar's Head was competed for the last time. Mr. Walter Dendy has been able to fix the date of this, and he himself saw the procession pass down the High Street on that occasion.

During my studies I was even discovered the name of a lucky winner of the Boar’s Head in 1843.

Essex Herald - Tuesday 03 January 1843, Page 2.
“WRESTLING FOR THE BOAR'S HEAD, AT HORNCHURCH.-A correspondent states that at the parish of Hornchurch, every Christmas Day, according to a charter, there must be a boar's head wrestled for on the occasion. The name of the party who obtained the head is James Kent, servant to Messrs. Woodfine, brewers”.
A report which appeared on Page 3 of the London Courier and Evening Gazette dated January 2, 1837 shares some details of the Hornchurch wrestling competition.

“ANCIENT CUSTOM! At Hornchurch on Monday, the 26th inst. Christmas day being on Sunday, the annual wrestling match, continued according to custom immemorial, took place for a boar's head, the gift of John and Peter Bearblock, Esquires, lessees, under St. John's College, of the rectory of the Liberty of Havering-atte-Bower;

“Near that famed place where folk, unused to ride, New rig their bottoms and repair their hide, Close to that vill whose stately church adorns (Oh shameful badge) a monstrous pair of horns.” Old Song.

“The scene of contention was highly picturesque, the country being whitened with snow; it was upon the new cricket ground lately made in a deep pit opposite the hall. The ground was in most beautiful order namely, as hard as frost could make it. The spectator were ranged in a large ring, on the margin of which held by the senior workman upon a high pole, was the boar's head, tastefully decorated with holly and light blue ribbons, a lemon being placed beneath his ample tusks. About ten couple entered the ring, but the hard and cold embraces of mother earth seemed to chill the ardour of the competitors. After the usual number of falls, two out of three having been enjoyed by all but the winner, the conqueror was declared, and the prize paraded round the village, amidst the acclamations of his friends, and afterwards feasted upon to the party at one of the inns. To the lovers of the antique customs of "merrie old England" this scene is a high treat. Were the old sports, pastimes, and recreations of the peasantry always cared for, and the example of the continuers of this old custom more generally followed by those who can afford it, with respect to the labourer being worthy of his hire, the midnight plunderer would not be so often heard of”.

A topographical dictionary called the British Gazeteer for the year 1852, Vol 2, on Pages 510-511 provides basic information about the parish of Hornchurch in which a light is sheds on the origins of the old Hornchurch tradition of having annual wrestling competition for the boar’s head trophy. It also mentioned a certain religious order (or brotherhood) of Horners which reportedly existed in those lands. How not to recall Herne the Hunter the horned forest spirit of the ancient Anglo-Saxons?!

“HORNCHURCH, ESSEX, a parish in the liberty of Havering-atte-Bower, union of Romford: 16 miles from London (coach road 14), 4 from Romford, 6 from Brentwood.East. Co Rail. to Romford, thence 4 miles: from Derby, through London, &c., 148 miles. London letters deliv twice daily.The church is a fine structure, with a spire about 170 feet high; at the chan-cel end there is a piece of carved work of a bullock's head, the horns of which are gilt. There is an ancient custom here of wrestling on Christmas-day for a boar's head, established by a grant of Henry II., which is still observed, as appears from an account in a periodical a few years since. This parish, Lambard says-toke the name of a religious fellowship or brotherhoode, called the Horners, the memorie whereof is contynued till this day by two things, thone, that theare remayneth fixed at thest end of the church a pair of great hornes: tother, that yearly the shyreve of the shyre levyeth the somme of _______ in money, by this title, de magistro cornuti monastrii, etc. But at what time it was founded, or when it was suppressed, I cannot hytherto understand.”

The above article mentioned a certain Charter granted by the King Henry II. This caused an interest among the local researchers, although this appeared to have been be based on a verbal tradition because no traces of any such historical document were ever found.
“Hornchurch Custom. Under the heading of "Manners and Customs" the following appeared in The Mirror of Nov. 10, 1832.

"At Hornchurch, in Essex, there is a singular Custom on Christmas Day of wrestling for a boar's head, which is provided by the occupier of Hornchurch Hall. This custom is said to have originated in some charter, with which a correspondent (H. В. А.) is totally unacquainted."

I can find no mention by the Essex historians of any such charter. Is the "custom" still continued?-H. G. GRIFFINHOOFE, 34, St. Petersburg Place, W”.

Interestingly, the events of the year of 1824 in Hornchurch got mentioned in various sources although I couldn’t find any actual references to the fact of the introduction (or revival) of any kind of old traditional annual wrestling tournaments.

“On Christmas-day, the following custom has been observed at Hornchurch, in Essex, from time immemorial. The lessee of the tithes, which belong to New College, Oxford, supplies a boar's head dressed, and garnished with bay-leaves, etc. In the afternoon, it is carried in procession into the Mill Field, adjoining the church-yard, where it is wrestled for; and it is afterwards feasted upon, at one of the public-houses, by the rustic conqueror and his friends, with all the merriment peculiar to the season. And here it may be observed, that there is another custom at this place, of having a model of an ox's head, with horns affixed on the top of the eastern end of the chancel of the church. A few years ago it had been suffered to fall into decay; but in the year 1824 it was renewed by the present vicar. This church formerly belonged to the convent on Mourt St. Bernard, in Savoy and it has been suggested, that the ox's head, with the horns, may, perhaps, be the arms or crest of the convent, and that the custom, as well as the name of the place, originated from that circumstance. I shall be happy to be informed whether this suggestion be founded on matter of fact; and, if not, to what other cause the custom can be assigned.-IGNOTUS. Hone's Every-day Book, vol. ii, p. 825; 1826. See also Gentleman's Magazine, 1828, pt. i, p. 305, reprinted in Gentleman's Magazine Lilrary; Manners and Customs, pp. 220-221; 1883,1

“This field or dell is a charming spot and in addition to it being thought to have been the site of a prize-fight mentioned in Conan Doyle’s Rodney Stone it was a celebrated cock-pit in the 18th century and the scene of the ancient custom of wrestling for a boar’s head on the Christmas Day between the men of Hornchurch and Romford.” (Upminster and Hornchurch in The Essex Review for 1924, No 129, Pages 98-99).

The second and a very interesting account related to the wrestling traditions of the South-East comes from the Pictures of the British Isles: and of the condition, manners, customs, and way of life by a German author called Johann Andreas Lübeck of Bayreuth, Bavaria (1804).

And this account provides a very detailed information about the kind of wrestling which was practiced by the residents of the village of Highgate (twenty two miles from Hornchurch) in the parish of Horn-sey, a place which is famous for its pub tradition of 'Swearing on the Horns' – the pledging by oath of one's dedication to merriment, drunkness and debauchery such as to drink only strong beer, to eat only white bread and not brown, and to not kiss the maid if they could kiss the mistress, except you like the maid the best, but sooner than lose a good chance you may kiss them both (!); interestingly there still is a local pub in Highgate called The Wrestlers which origin can be traced back to the 1500s, where they still swore on the stag’s horns! And according to the above German text the wrestling at Highgate was a basic freestyle, after a loose fashion (grabbing the legs was perfectly fine!), for a horizontal fall. Below follows my translation of the above mentioned text.

Merry Drinking Parties of the English

“We generally imagine the English as serious, more grumpy than merry people; but most travelers agree that hardly any other people are as inclined to merriment as they are; and this sense of humor is not only maintained by youth, but is also preserved in old age, and one not infrequently sees gravitating heads of households, and already elderly people in large wigs, wrestling with one another and romping about on the grass, and also allowing themselves various other pastimes that are unheard of among people of their age in Germany.

In order to give our readers a quite clear idea of ​​what goes on in English society when they can give themselves over entirely to their inclination to enjoy themselves in the country, we will share with them a letter from a traveler to his friend in Germany.

Mr. Th***, he writes, suggested to me several days ago that we eat in Highgate, a village about four miles from London.

After dinner, the group went out onto the lawn and, divided into different parties, sat down for punch.

Some people thought of performing arts on the lawn; they soon had a lot of imitators and in a short time, everyone who wasn't incapacitated by the punch was on the green square. Clothes were thrown off, and now, for a German, the funniest sight appeared. Imagine a crowd of people, the majority of whom were certainly venerable heads of households, and among them the most comical figures with snub-tailed wigs and swollen bellies, all in vests or shirts, some who wanted to wrestle, naked from the upper body; imagine all these men on a green square, wrestling, jumping, and engaged in all kinds of physical exercises that we only see students do; such a spectacle is certainly new enough in Germany. My honest justice of the peace, who was far removed from any possibility of standing on his feet, but seemed to be highly respected by everyone, was carried with great pomp in his armchair onto the square and given the position of referee at all the games.

The wrestling began; here, to my great astonishment, I saw people of sixty and more, wrestling like young fellows. I was a mere spectator and had no desire to mingle with them, but they didn't leave me in my darkness for long. The judge called the foreign gentleman and begged me to give them a sample of our skill. He added that he had once known a German who had thrown all the Englishmen who wrestled with him to the ground. I assured him that there were very strong people among us, but also very weak ones, and that I certainly belonged among the wicked. Moreover, wrestling was not taught according to rules, and I hadn't had the opportunity to try it since my school years; but all my excuses were of no use. About to be defeated is, as you can see, no shame, he said to me; but even if you don't accept it at all, there might still be people here who believe that a German doesn't have the heart to take on an Englishman. If that's the case, I said, it's to give the company the amusement of seeing me lying on the grass a few times. Well, cried my boss, just undress, good boy, I'll find you a fighter who has no advantages over you.

He then called a man who, by appearances, was no stronger than I. Fortune was on my side, and he fell. Another came, and I overcame him as well; people praised me and called for my favor. Now a tall, fat man stepped forward and challenged me with a mocking expression. This annoyed me. Bold from my good result, I quickly considered that it would do little damage to my reputation if the brusque fellow threw me down. So I accepted his offer. I don't understand how it happened; presumably his clumsiness was to blame, for he was far superior to me in strength. In short, I threw him onto the grass with little effort, so that his legs were above him. Bravo, resounded from all sides.

Only a small, skinny man politely asked me to go for another walk with him. I couldn't refuse, but asked for time to rest. This was considered very reasonable; the waiter had to bring the punch bowl, and then they drank to me. After a short pause, our fight began; but now the end of my victories had come. After a short struggle, he ran under me, threw me on his shoulder like a sack, carried me a few steps, and finally laid me down quite gently on the ground.

Then we began to jump over large piles of hats stacked on top of each other, and since my natural lightness came in handy here, I did more honor in this than in wrestling.”

The subject of the catch-as-catch-can wrestling traditions of the Great South-East of England is of a big interest to me and I hope to continue researching this subject and of course in case of making new discoveries related to this matter I will sure update and expand this report.

Ruslan C Pashayev is an expert-member of the Traditional Sports Team of the Instytut Rozwoju Sportu i Edukacji (the Institute of Sport Development and Education), Warsaw, Poland.

© 2025 Ruslan C Pashayev All Rights Reserved.