Pub Game Trophies & Medals - Pt.1

The rewards for winning in pub game play are usually 'token' at best, rarely of significant monetary value. In fact most of the trophies awarded to individuals today are practically valueless, mass-produced plastic, purely symbolic, though no less important to those who receive them of course. Small cash prizes are sometimes awarded, indeed I recall winning a few quid as runner-up in a pairs cup competition in my local Table Skittles League. I'm not sure this is a widespread thing, it certainly came as something of a surprise to me at the time.

The real prize for victorious teams and individuals in local competition is the proud legacy of achievement. That, and getting your name engraved on what are often impressive league trophies or shields, joining a list of previous winners that may stretch back over many decades of play, perhaps even a century or more! In days gone by you might also expect to see your name in the local newspaper. The chat and banter of a social night out at pub or club, and the outside-chance of a bit of glory and local bragging-rights are everything in pub games.

Until relatively recently, prizes would have been both symbolic, and often of genuine monetary value. The huge number of mostly silver medals and trophies awarded in local competition from the late 19th century and throughout much of the 20th century, is testament to how much more important these games would have been to participants back then. It's hard to gauge just how valuable these medals would have been in their day, after all, they may have been made from silver (occasionally gold!), but there's very little weight to them, and practically all were 'struck' or 'cast' rather than individually 'crafted' by the jewellers and medallists who made them. But they're certainly medals in the true sense of the word, recognition in precious metal of success in what may have been a very tough competition over the course of a season or cup run.

So, reasonably valuable tokens that would have been awarded in large quantities almost everywhere games were played competitively. Precious enough to the individuals who won them that they wouldn't have been simply discarded, but perhaps not valuable enough for the melting pot. As such they're quite common now, and come up for sale in the antiques and collectibles trade all the time, albeit they're not quite as common as those for 'sporting' prowess such as Football, Cricket, or Athletics. Over the years I've acquired a few of these medals, the images on the front and little scraps of social history engraved on the rear make them attractive items to collect and research. Each one has a story to tell, though deciphering that story can often prove difficult given the chronic lack of information on pub games leagues in archives and online sources. Here are a few examples from my collection.

This medal (above & left) is an interesting one. Probably made by Vaughton Ltd, a jeweller and medallist that's still trading in Birmingham today. Whilst I've failed to discover anything about the I S Skittles Club (Islington?), what's striking about this medal is the image on the front which appears to show a gentleman about to hurl a weighty discus-shaped 'Cheese' at a set of very large skittle pins. The size/shape of the pins and the layout of the alley all point toward this representing the almost extinct game of Old English Skittles, famously still played at the last remaining pub alley for the game at the Freemasons Arms in Hammersmith, London. This style of skittles was very common around the war years which is when this medal would have been awarded, and yet this is one of only two examples that I've come across, both by Vaughton Ltd with an identical skittling image. It's important to note that the image on the front of a medal is no guarantee that it represents the version of skittles actually played in the league it was awarded for. It may simply be that this was the standard medal for all skittles games supplied by Vaughtons, and for this reason it's not wise to draw firm conclusions about the specific games they might represent.

A good example of this is the medal shown here which appears to represent the popular 'West Country' game of alley skittles. The figure, clearly holding a round ball, is lining-up to 'bowl' at a set of typically dumpy alley skittles. The slatted alley is also 'Western' in style. However, this medal was actually awarded to the winner of the 1944/5 season in the Syston Skittles League, a league of longstanding in the 'Long Alley Skittles' county of Leicestershire. I think we can be reasonably sure that the league would have been playing Long Alley at this time, a very different type of skittles that's certainly not the one represented on this medal.

Dominoes is perhaps the most humble of all pub games, yet even this warranted medals made of silver. An inexpensive game played casually as well as competitively, but a game with something of an image problem, particularly with the young. Both Dominoes and Cards are games that younger pub-goers take little interest in, unless of course there's a stake to be won. Back in 1959 when this medal was struck by Fattorini & Sons Ltd, a small bit of silver would have been ample reward for a seasons play. The medal shown here seems to be for the most common pub Domino game, Fives & Threes given that the 6-3 and double 5 are the most important scoring tiles in the game.

The 1930's were the time when Darts really took off in Britain, and by the 40's it seems every pub had a board, if not a team actually playing in a local league. The 'sport' was widely promoted with booklets detailing how to play, numerous sponsored competitions with cash prizes, as well as hugely popular exhibition matches. There was even a highly irritating song extolling the virtues of the game. So this medal by W H Haseler Ltd of Birmingham (1938) was one of the earlier examples of its kind, which perhaps explains the rather poor rendering of the game itself. The Dart is somewhat oversized, the Board rather too small and perhaps closer in detail to a target than a true Dartboard. Darts represents the most common of all pub game medals, most of which feature a simple rendering of a Dartboard on the front, though earlier examples like this one tend to concentrate on the player as much as the board. There is still a Hornsea & District Ladies Darts League.

Table Skittles medals don't seem to turn up as often as those for other skittle games. Perhaps this is down to the more local/regional nature of the game in comparison to alley skittles which is widespread. The medal above is a modern example made from base metal, and has a fairly accurate rendering of a classic Northamptonshire 'Hooded' Skittles Table. Again, this is the only one of its kind that I've thus-far come across, appropriately enough at a Car Boot sale in the county. Slightly odd given that I've scoured antiques centres, fayres and flea markets in Northants for several years without success. I gather that small trophies, plaques and shields are awarded for Table Skittles these days, and attractive as they are, I'm not sure what folk would actually do with a medal like this one now. When the awarding of medals was at its peak, most players would have wore pocket watches. This explains why small medals like this are often known as Fob Medals or Medallions, because they were designed to be displayed on a watch chain.

This silver medal is also clearly for Table Skittles, though careful examination reveals a slightly different form of the game has been depicted. This medal was struck by Thomas James Skelton of Birmingham & Chester in 1933, and at this time there would have been several local variants of the game of Table Skittles. This table has no 'Hood' like the Northamptonshire game, and the table is longer and perhaps narrower, in fact more in the style of the Kentish game Daddlums. This unique skittles game is almost extinct now, but would have been very popular and quite common throughout the South East at the time this medal was awarded. Again, it's hard to draw firm conclusions about the game that this was actually presented for, and sadly the detailed inscription on the back has proved little help in this regard, but if this is a medal for Daddlums competition it may prove to be something of a rarity. I don't doubt there are other medals for this game out there somewhere, but as yet I've failed to find them.

Orange Tree, Baldock, Hertfordshire

The main bar area of the Orange Tree, Baldock, a traditional multi-room pub with a great reputation for its Beer and Cider.

The world of the pub games enthusiast is, it has to be said, quite a small one. Which is not to say that the many thousands of enthusiastic 'gamers', shoving, chucking, or indeed tossing on a regular basis in leagues and more casually, lack enthusiasm for their chosen game. Simply that these players take their gameplay largely in their stride. A game of Dominoes or a midweek Skittles match is to them just a part of day to day life. Nothing to get too excited about, and certainly nothing to warrant writing about!

The more finely tuned interests of enthusiasts like myself, often reflect a deeper cultural fascination with the subject, in my own case it's a wider interest in pub culture in general. This is often underpinned by a strong sense that if the very best of our traditions are to survive, someone needs to champion them in a way that simply wouldn't occur to those of us who merely participate, enjoy, and thereby help preserve our traditional pastimes.

One of the original pub games champions of recent times was Timothy Finn. A writer and keen Northants skittler, Finn was probably the first to treat the subject of pub games as a distinct subject in itself, rather than a sub-set of the much wider childrens and 'parlour' game tradition. His 1970's book, Pub Games of England, was at that time the most complete work on the subject, and is still a useful reference, particularly the listings of pubs where the games featured might be found. It's also an interesting book in the context of this blog post in that he caught the last vestiges of a game which has now almost entirely disappeared from pubs.

The game of Daddlums might be considered a slightly smaller regional version of Northamptonshire Skittles, and was once as common in the south-east of England as the Northants game still is in the East Midlands. The game has some similarities with the even rarer game of Old English (or London) Skittles, which by contrast is the most weighty example of the skittles tradition surviving to this day, and may represent yet another example of a game miniaturised and brought indoors for play during the colder winter months.

In Daddlums three small hardwood cheeses are thrown at a formation of nine stubby, somewhat top-heavy pins (above), which sit toward the rear of quite a long table. The technique for toppling the pins seems to be to land the cheese some way ahead of the diamond formation and slide into them, unlike the Northants game where the cheese generally hits the front pin full-toss. Whilst the game which is known as Daddlums seems to have been confined primarily to the South East of England, small table skittles games like this are understood to have been played much further afield, and certainly up the eastern seaboard through Anglia and into parts of the East Midlands where several examples have been recorded.

The decline of Daddlums and other small table skittle games can best be illustrated by the fact that only one original table is now known to exist. The Daddlums table at the Vigo Inn, Fairseat in Kent, is therefore an important survivor, and has provided the template for at least two newly built tables which help keep the tradition alive in the area. The Vigo Inn table has also provided the inspiration for the most recent revival of the game in the town of Baldock, Hertfordshire.

The Darts Room at the Orange Tree features this ingenious space-saving board which swings out from the wall for play, folding back flat against the wall when the room is required for other less competitive uses.

A Shove Ha'penny set up in the old Inglenook fireplace, now a cosy seating area. The licensee has more than one board available at the pub, as well as a Devil Amongst The Tailors, Shut The Box, Cards and Dominoes.

Licensee Rob Scahill is surely a pub games enthusiast himself, or at the very least a real champion of the pub gaming tradition. Why else would he have chosen to install the little known and rare as hens teeth game of Daddlums at the Orange Tree in Baldock, alongside a host of more common pub games.

The Daddlums table itself has been crafted in the style of the rare Vigo Inn example, and is the first of what will eventually be a pair of tables in the town, the other being installed at The Cock. In this way it is hoped to establish inter-pub competition, essential for this small but important revival to take hold and maybe one day thrive in Baldock. The pins and cheeses came c/o James Masters of Masters Traditional Games, who also tipped me off about the Orange Tree and it's many attractions.

More pub gaming ingenuity. The Daddlums Table, which is located in the opulent covered patio/smoking shelter to the rear of the pub, swings up and away to reveal a recently refurbished Bar Billiards table.

Daddlums (and other Rare Skittle Games)

For all the wide variety of games still played at the pub, it's probably true to say that just as many have all but disappeared in recent years. Some games which would once have been very popular, albeit played quite locally, are now very scarce indeed, and others have sadly disappeared entirely. And yet just because a traditional game has vanished from the pub in recent times, it doesn't necessarily mean it's gone for good.

Certainly examples of scarce or long-lost pub games do occasionally resurface, usually via the antiques and collectables trade. Suffolk Quoits boards are a case in point, now effectively extinct as a pub game it nevertheless seems that many of these simple games boards have survived.

With pub closures running at an all time high, it's inevitable that old games, perhaps even rare or hitherto undiscovered ones, will once again see the light of day, rescued from the dank cellars and dusty store rooms of old pubs where they've languished un-played and unloved for many years. My understanding is that this is how the Skittles & Cheeses shown here have come to light, discovered recently at an as yet unknown closed pub in the small Lincolnshire town of Grantham.

These skittles and cheeses superficially resemble the game of Northamptonshire Table Skittles (sometimes known as Hood Skittles), though there are a number of features which set them apart from this game, most notably their significantly smaller size. Unlike most of the larger forms of the game of skittles, where a ball (or barrel shaped 'cheese') is thrown or bowled at the pins, Table Skittles developed as a compact bar-room game, with thick, flat discs of wood replacing the balls. These are thrown onto a padded leather table where nine stout boxwood or hardwood pins are arranged in the traditional diamond pattern.

A slightly smaller version of this game, known locally as Daddlums, was once played in Kent and the surrounding counties. Only one original Daddlums table is known to be in existence now, located at the recently re-opened Vigo Inn, Fairseat in Kent (there is a photograph of the table on the pub website). The local branch of the Campaign for Real Ale also have an original set of pins and cheeses, and stage occasional Daddlums matches on a reproduction table (see this edition of Channel Draught from page 40 for a good description of the game, and how the branch came to own the pins and cheeses). The game seems to have been quite popular right through until the late 70's, in fact I've spoken with a gentleman from the area who remembers playing the game at a pub in the village of Trottiscliffe around this time, which suggests that most pubs in this area would have had a table in the games heyday.

A very similar game to Daddlums extended up the eastern seaboard to Norfolk (and possibly beyond!). Sadly, since the last known Norfolk Skittles Table disappeared from the Horseshoes Inn, Alby, no example of the Norfolk game has been seen for some time. A photograph of this table can be seen in Timothy Finn's 1975 book Pub Games of England. One thing is clear though, given the popularity of these games, it seems certain that more tables, pins, and cheeses are waiting to be discovered in the area. It's also quite possible that given the relatively wide spread of such similar games, a small table skittles game like Daddlums may have been played much farther afield than has previously been thought.

Which brings me to the skittles and cheeses shown here, and what little I currently know about them:

• There are nine hardwood (probably Mahogany) skittles, a little over 4.5 inches high, and exhibiting enough variation to suggest they were made by a local craftsman rather than manufactured. They're in pretty good condition for 'old' skittles, so perhaps these are relatively new replacements.

• There are three stitched 'Cheeses', each one made from three thick rounds of leather. Two, possibly the oldest, are also crudely pierced with iron rivets, and perhaps most importantly, stamped on both sides with the words LE TALL and GRANTHAM. The third cheese is similarly constructed, but the rivets are finer, and made from brass and copper. This cheese is not stamped.

• A second set of three cheeses are made from two rounds of thick leather sandwiching a round of rubber. These are lighter, softer, and merely glued. I feel that these are more modern, possibly replacements for the hard (noisy!) leather originals.

What conclusions can be drawn about this highly unusual skittle set? The fact is that buying items like these from a dealer in a particular location is no indication of origin, although I am led to believe they did come from a closed pub in Grantham. More compelling as an indicator of origin is the name and (presumably) location stamped on two of the cheeses. Le Tall seems to be a family name with some connection to Lincolnshire.

The construction and materials used to make these cheeses strongly suggests that this was a pub skittle set. A parlour game would certainly not have needed to be so robust, particularly with regard to the rivets which would have been a liability in a home environment. The skittles themselves are similar in size to those used in Daddlums and Norfolk Skittles, and significantly larger than Devil Amongst The Tailors pins.

So, this appears to have been a local Grantham pub game, probably played on a table similar to that used for the game of Daddlums, and possibly representing a far-flung example of a game once played throughout the South-East of England, and extending up the Eastern coastal counties at least as far as Lincolnshire.

I hope to be able to find out a little more about this skittle set in the near future, and would like to construct a table for their play at some point, probably based on the Norfolk Skittles table featured in Timothy Finn's book, unless I can find evidence of an original Grantham model in the future.