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 2008, Beijing.1606, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire. Robert Dover's Cotswold Games, featuring, if the 1636 title-page of Annalia Dubrensia (1636) is anything to go by, the lost sport of erecting castles on little plinthes. The Michael Phelps of 1606 Gloucestershire is bottom left, expertly picking up his long stick. But what's the odd pattern centre right? |
by Bardolph @ 9:46 AM
At 8/11/2008 01:10:00 PM,
Anonymous wrote…
it's clearly the embroidery heat.
At 8/11/2008 02:44:00 PM,
Anonymous wrote…
I like the freestyle 'setting out of banquets' taking place on the left.
At 8/11/2008 03:10:00 PM,
Anonymous wrote…
twas also the time when cats and dogs could enter the fray (always classed as Swiss, for neutrality).
At 8/11/2008 03:26:00 PM,
Anonymous wrote…
I was sufficiently intrigued and sad enough to spend some time digging through Google Books, and lo and behold Notes and Queries came up trumps with a description.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=sjuBjBcErFYC&pg=PA356&dq=%22cotswold+games%22+lace&ei=iJCgSL7vIIKsswOxoJSeBQ&client=firefox-a
According to the article, it's a labyrinth. It also gives a guide to the rest of the woodcut:
"Dover Castle, a wooden edifice raised upon a mill- post ; a bifurcated pennon having a simple cross thereon; four pieces of ordnance, two of them firing off.
Left hand side. — Three women dancing a reel to a bagpiper ; three curs coursing a hare ; four tents or wooden huts ; a party of eleven men at a banquet; a part of four racing on horseback; two men each throwing a weighted spear.
Right hand side. — A couple of backsword players ; a couple of wrestlers ; a tumbler ; a labyrinth ; a couple of greyhounds coursing a hare ; two men with staves, probably constables ; a man throwing a heavy sledge-hammer. Robert Dover himself on horseback, broad-brimmed hat and feather, deep lace collar, baldrick and sword, big breeches [quite knickerbockers], jack-boots turned over with lace, in his left a wand."
But it doesn't look very maze-like to me. It reminds me more of a lace pattern - maybe a prize?
At 8/12/2008 05:47:00 AM,
bdh wrote…
It's clearly the tent where they test the competitors for performance-enhancing drugs...
At 8/12/2008 09:29:00 AM,
Anonymous wrote…
and the gender verification tests!
At 8/12/2008 09:46:00 AM,
Anonymous wrote…
that upside down man is truly terrifying.
At 8/12/2008 03:46:00 PM,
Pamphilia wrote…
I was about to guess a labyrinth or a garden knot! Sign me up for the reel dancing competition.
At 8/12/2008 03:50:00 PM,
Pamphilia wrote…
PS I like the list of contributors- Drayton, Jonson & Heywood are joined by "A Sirinx" "Ferriman Rutter" and "Shack: Marmyon."
At 8/13/2008 07:11:00 PM,
Susan wrote…
I thought that I saw cheese rolling (a sport still practiced in Gloucestershire) on the right.
At 8/16/2008 02:31:00 PM,
Innogen wrote…
Excellent!
On a completely unrelated topic, have any bloggers or readers heard anything from GEMCS re: panel (or paper) acceptance yet?
At 8/18/2008 05:04:00 PM,
Doctor Cleveland wrote…
I got a confirmation from GEMCS just now, so it's apparently that time.
At 8/20/2008 09:46:00 PM,
Innogen wrote…
Yep, finally heard from them...panic abated. See everyone in Philly!
At 8/21/2008 04:43:00 AM,
Bardolph wrote…
For more on the insane sport of cheese rolling -- huge in Gloucestershire -- go to http://www.cheese-rolling.co.uk/. It takes place every year on Cooper's Hill: John Denham must be kicking himself he didn't include a few lines on tumbling cheddars in his verse of the same name.
My favourite line on this web-site is: 'If you feel the need to go cheese-rolling before next spring, why not visit Canada?'
At 8/25/2008 12:13:00 AM,
bdh wrote…
Methinks it's about time for another caption contest guys!
Scribble some marginalia
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