A Rare Old Skittles Game in Rutland

Games have long played an important role in the English tradition of Fetes, Fayres, Feast Days etc, and traditional pub games often feature in one form or another. Long Alley and Table Skittles are particularly popular in the leafier parts of Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, often using skittles and tables that have become surplus to requirements in their local pubs for one reason or another.

Several years ago I spotted a local newspaper article reporting on a Village Fete in Kent that featured photographs of children playing the traditional pub game of Daddlums. Whilst the pins and cheeses appeared to be original Boxwood examples, the table itself looked to have been recently re-upholstered, possibly newly built given that the pins and cheeses of this once popular game often seem to outlive the tables the game was played on. Something of a find nevertheless, given that only two original examples of the game are currently known to exist (a few more have been built in more recent times). Sadly I didn’t think to capture these images at the time, and I can no longer find them online. It does however highlight the kind of rarities that can pop up unexpectedly in village halls and the garages of local enthusiasts.

Every example of a rare old pub game that comes to light adds to the corpus of knowledge around an aspect of social history that rarely attracts the attention of pub enthusiasts, let alone historians. The skittles game shown here is interesting in of itself, but more so when we consider its location in an area not noted for a skittles tradition.

I came across this Skittles Table in the games area of a May Fayre in Braunstone, a small rural village close to the Market Town of Oakham in Rutland. To find a locally ‘shed-built’ skittles table at a village event like this is hardly unusual or newsworthy. What makes this example special is its similarity to a number of other games that have come to light in recent years, constituting clear evidence of a unique skittling tradition local to Leicestershire and Lincolnshire (and possibly Nottinghamshire). It only takes a casual glance at a map to see that it's no surprise we can now include Rutland in this skittling region, squeezed as it is between its much larger neighbours.

In the 1975 book 'Pub Games of England', Timothy Finn states with some authority that Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire can be considered as the north-eastern boundary of 'Hood Skittles' play, this too would presumably encompass the county of Rutland. Whilst this seems highly likely given that Northamptonshire Skittles Tables existed until very recently in pubs as close to Rutland as Great Easton, Drayton, and Rockingham, I’ve yet to find any evidence of the same in an actual Rutland pub. My feeling is that a unique skittles game, speculatively centred on the Lincolnshire town of Grantham, is a more likely candidate for Rutland, and the existence of the table shown here confirms it was certainly played in at least one Rutland pub until the middle of the 20th century.

So what do we know about this particular table and its skittles and cheeses. Well firstly it’s pretty clear that the skittle pins have been quite recently (and rather beautifully) turned-up by a craftsman. They look far too new to be original, and with hardly any wear. The inclusion of a Kingpin is slightly odd too, serving no purpose in this game to my knowledge so probably a modern affectation. From a brief discussion with a Braunstone local I understand that the table was rebuilt some 50 years ago from the remains of an original which had come from one of the two village pubs (the Blue Ball is still open, The Old Plough (below) is long closed and in the process of conversion to a residence). My feeling is that this is probably authentic to the original design and appearance of the table.

So a rebuilt table and relatively modern replacement pins, not much to go on it seems. But it’s the unusual riveted and stitched leather Cheeses that mark this game out as being special, and almost certainly from the same tradition as other examples which have come to light in the region. These cheeses are very similar to the set which I acquired in Grantham several years ago (left), originally from the long closed Hunters Arms in Wymondham which is not so far away from Braunston in Rutland. Other examples which have cropped up at auction in the region are also made from layers of thick leather, stitched and/or riveted, and of a similar size and appearance, indeed I believe my friend John Penny of the Facebook Pub Games site has a similar set.

These all-leather Cheeses are certainly unique to the area, and I've little doubt that other examples still exist, gathering dust in the loft of a pub or a locals shed somewhere. They're also extremely robust when riveted, harder to break even than the Boxwood Cheeses of the larger game. Sadly it's the tables that are less likely to have survived in my view. Unlike a Northamptonshire Skittles Table which is a substantial piece of furniture, not easily lost or ignored when a pub changes hands or closes, these smaller tables were designed to sit on a pub table in use and put away out of sight when not, therefore much more throw-away-able. On the upside they are much easier to fabricate, which should mean that these leather cheeses and hardwood skittle pins will continue to have a life in the right hands.