“The Cockpit Holywell Oxford” by Catherine Sharpe (after William Crotch)
Reproduced by kind permission of Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Norfolk Museums Service
Above: The conical Lower Cockpit,
in Loggan's
bird's eye view of 1675,
viewed from
the north looking down St Cross Road
There were two cockpits that for a period operated simultaneously in Holywell:
- The Lower Cockpit was near the corner of Holywell and Longwall Street, behind the present building that used to be the Morris Garage. It was already in existence by 1675, but appears to have closed by 1772.
- The Great Cockpit (shown in the above painting) was next to Holywell Manor House (see drawing) was in place by 1753 and survived to 1821. Its remains were discovered in 1992–3 during the excavations for a new dining hall at Holywell Manor.
Both town and gown attended the cock-fights at Holywell, and it tended to be a gentleman's sport. Anthony Wood noted that William Wright, Mayor of Oxford 1656/7 and 1667/8 and MP for Oxford for a short period in 1679, was “a great cocker” (patron of cockfighting).
The biggest cockfights took place at the same time as the Oxford Races at Port Meadow, and between 1753 and 1788 these fights were always announced in Jackson’s Oxford Journal. There were some local derbies between Oxford and Watlington, but often the cocks represented the whole County of Oxfordshire against the Counties of Berkshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, or Middlesex. (Similar inter-county cockfights were held at the cockpit at the King & Queen pub at Wheatley.)
In 1753 both the Great and the Lower Cockpits were held by Stephen Eaton senior. The following advertisement appeared in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 14 July 1753 for a fight against Buckinghamshire in the Great Cockpit, with an “ordinary” (a fixed-price meal) available, probably at the adjacent house of Eaton:
The following two advertisements show the cockerels fighting for Oxfordshire against Wiltshire, both this time in the Lower Cockpit:
Gloucester Journal of 30 July 1754:
Jackson's Oxford Journal, 19 July 1755:
The 1754 advertisement above implies that Stephen Eaton was already the Keeper of the Holywell Cockpit. In the 1772 Survey of Oxford he was recorded as having a frontage of ten yards to St Cross Road, which is presumably the Great Cockpit, and it appears that the Lower Cockpit may have no longer existed by that time.
The advertisement below from the Gloucester Journal of 24 February 1777 shows that large sums of money were involved in the cock “battles":
The following advertisement for a three-day cock fight at the Great Cockpit in Holywell appeared in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 22 January 1780:
(A "subscription main" was a contest in which a number of cockers entered one, two or more birds each.)
On 17 January 1799 the following death announcement appeared in Jackson's Oxford Journal:
Thursday morning last died, aged near eighty, Mr. Stephen Eaton, who kept the Cock Pit in this city forty years.
Stephen Eaton junior, who was probably his son, then took over the Cockpit.
This statue of a cockerel in St Cross Road remembers the Holywell Cockpit
Cock-fighting in Holywell continued into the nineteenth century. Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 27 June 1801 advertised a “main” between cockerels and and “stags” (turkey-cocks of two years and upwards) of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire to be held at Holywell during the Oxford Races at Port Meadow A similar advertisement was placed on 23 July 1803, but this time the opposing county was Middlesex, and the prizes were lower: five guineas a battle, and “one hundred the main”. Prices were back as they were, however, at the cockfight against Berkshire during the races of 1807.
In the spring of 1809, 1814, and 1815 there was an annual subscription match of cocking. Then in the summer of 1815 the Gentlemen of Oxfordshire took on the Gentlemen of Gloucestershire during the Races (with Oxfordshire winning by one battle).
Stephen Eaton junior died on 6 January 1816, and on 13 January 1816 the following notice appeared in Jackson's Oxford Journal:
On Sunday last died, aged 73 years, Mr. Stephen Eaton, keeper of the Cockpit, Holywell; he had been totally blind for many years, and was well known as a feeder of fighting cocks for the matches that have been fought here during the races.
By 1819 the feeder for Oxfordshire was Mr H. Lever.
The last advertisement in Jackson's Oxford Journal for a cock fight here appeared on 24 March 1821:
A report a week later on 31 March 1821 stated that Oxfordshire had beaten Gloucestershire by one battle.
In 1825 Mr Martin introduced a Cruelty to Animals Bill, stating that “the idle, mischievous practices of bear-bating, cock-throwing, cock-fighting, and the fighting of dogs, monkeys, and badgers, require to be punished”. This was eventually passed ten years later in 1835, and the sport of cock-fighting was banned outright in England and Wales under the Cruelty to Animals Act of 1835, the first piece of legislation in Britain extending the prohibition against animal cruelty beyond cattle to include fighting cocks. It stated:
And whereas Cruelties are greatly promoted and encouraged by Persons keeping Houses, Rooms, Pits, Grounds, or other Places for the fighting or baiting of Dogs, Bulls, Bears, or other Animals, and for fighting Cocks, and by Persons aiding or assisting therein, and the same are great Nuisances and Annoyances to the Neighbourhood in which they are situate, and tend to demoralize those who frequent such Places; be it therefore enacted, That from and after the passing of this Act, if any Person shall keep or use any House, Room, Pit, Ground, or other Place for the Purpose of running, baiting, or fighting any Bull, Bear, Badger, Dog, or other Animal (whether of domestic or wild Nature or Kind), or for Cock-fighting, or in which any Bull, Bear, Badger, Dog, or other such Animal shall be baited, run, or fought, every such Person shall be liable to a Penalty not exceeding Five Pounds nor less than Ten Shillings for every Day in which he shall so keep and use such House, Room, Pit, Ground, or Place for any of the Purposes aforesaid: Provided always, that the Person who shall act as the Manager of any such House, Room, Pit, Ground, or other Place, or who shall receive any Money for the Admission of any Person thereto, or who shall assist in any such baiting or fighting or Bull-running, shall be deemed and taken to be the Keeper of the same for the Purposes of this Act, and be liable to all such Penalties as are by this Act imposed upon the Person who shall actually keep any such House, Room, Pit, Ground, or other Place for the Purposes aforesaid.
See Mike Huggins: “From Popularity to Suppression: Cockfighting and English Society c.1730 to the 1835 Cruelty to Animals Act”
Malchair painted a view of the Holywell cockpit, and there is a miniature image of it on the Longmate map of Oxford of 1773. For more information, see Percy Manning, “Sport & pastime in Stuart Oxford”, in H. E. Salter, Surveys and Tokens, pp. 101–2.
In 1842 the cockpit was in ruins and was taken down.
On 3 May 1890 a letter from Herbert Hurst was published in Jackson's Oxford Journal where he wrote of his conversations with the Revd John Rigaud, including:
By the side of [the Sisterhood's Chapel, formerly Holywell Manor] was a little public house connected with a well-known cock-pit, and there is perhaps still living in Holywell an old woman who remembers King George IV coming incognito to witness a set-to of two birds there.
The pub called the Cockpit
There was also a pub called the Cockpit adjoining the Great Cockpit next to Holywell Manor in St Cross Road and originally run by the keeper of the pit. When an auction to be held there was advertised in Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 17 February 1810, it was described as being “near Holywell Church” and was the home of Stephen Eaton (then keeper of the cockpit) who had married Mary Cox at Holywell Church on 11 Mary 1799. He died on 16 January 1816 at the age of 73. The pub was held by Mary Eaton in 1837 and she was still there at the time of the 1841 census. Directories from 1841 onwards state that she was running the Robin Hood in Holywell, which seems to have been an alternative name for the pub. When she died at the age of 74 on 26 September 1844 she was described as having been landlady of the Cock Pit in Holywell for upwards of fifty years.
Inquests were held at the Cockpit pub in June 1825 and October 1847.
Although the pit itself had to close by the time cock-fighting was banned in 1835 and the building was taken down in 1842, the Cockpit pub adjoining continued. By 1851 it was run by Thomas Davis, sausage maker & publican, maker of the “original Oxford Sausage”. At the time of the 1851 census he lived there with his wife Mary (39) and his children Mary (15), Fanny (13), Thomas (5), Emily (3), and Charles (eight months).On 18 October that year he advertised that he was making sausages at the Cockpit available. Gardner's Directory of 1852 listed “Cock Pit, Thomas Davis, Holywell-street”.
Five years later on 11 October 1856 Thomas Davis inserted the following notice in Jackson’s Oxford Journal stating that he still made sausages in the premises adjoining the old cockpit.
T. DAVIS, BRAWN AND SAUSAGE MAKER, (Late of the Cock Pit, Holywell,)
BEGS leave to return his thanks for past patronage, and respectfully to acquaint the public that he still carries on the above business on the premises erected for that purpose, adjoining the Old Cock Pit.
SAUSAGES sent hot to any part of the town, and may also be had at Mr. Creed’s, Holywell-street [the Coach & Horses pub at No. 44] and at Mrs. Slatter’s, Bear-street.
On 17 July 1873 Thomas Davis, “brawn and sausage maker” died of bronchitis at the age of 73 at 14 Church Cottages, Holywell.