Journey to the Land of the Thugs Game (Played by Gentlemen)

 It’s been a while! But then any of you who can be bothered to read this stuff or just need a cure for insomnia will know that I only post when the muse takes me. Be warned, there are no demon-possessed bikes or humiliating trouser-falling-down episodes in this story!

 Concerning the journeys of my youth series – that’s going to happen but I have had a battle with the big C which has, among other things,  prevented me from getting on the bike. However, in good news, it looks like I’m winning said battle. Whatever comes next, it's time to live my life once more!

This particular story comes from an invitation to see some friends up in the wilds of Rugby to have a Sunday lunch. I’m always up for a free lunch so that was an easy sell. Add the prospect of good food, a historic setting and fine company and I was hooked!

Normally this would have been a journey I’d have taken on the bike, but given that my friends don’t drive for right now and they weren’t up for being towed to the restaurant on rollerblades (dammit!) I had to take the car. Now, don’t misunderstand me, I like my ancient Honda. It does the job, is dead reliable and extremely well-engineered. It just lacks the fun factor of a bike and definitely lacks the fun factor of towing people on rollerblades. (Don’t give me rubbish about personal risk either! Half of the most enjoyable things I’ve done in my life would bring Health and Safety out in hives!)

Given the limited choice in transport, I still chose to take a scenic route for the journey up and was treated to some of the delights of the English countryside in Oxfordshire and beyond. Yes, it lacks the immediacy of taking the bike, but I enjoyed the journey as much as possible in a ‘slightly less crappy Honda’. (And the person who described my admitted granny mobile like this knows who they are!).

When I arrived in Rugby, I was struck by how old the part of the town I was driving through was. Thatched cottages and Tudor-style buildings were everywhere, nestled alongside very modern shopping centres and industrial estates.

The town has quite a history too, with settlement in the area since the Iron Age, and I found that a fortified Roman Town existed about 3 miles northeast of where the town is today. According to legend, the Thugs game was invented in 1823 by a schoolboy named William Web Ellis. Go Figure – I thought it was much earlier than that, being the first version of football with actual rules, and now being called a thug’s game it was rather wussy because the original ‘Beautiful Game’ was played between two villages with a solid ball and people died in the matches!  I do know that there were concerns that football would interfere with the legal requirement for archery practice on a Sunday after mass and there were many attempts to ban it for various reasons, not just the archery.

Gentlemen Illsutating how to play the thugs' game

When I picked up my friends, I was treated to a whistle-stop tour and potted history of the town as we passed through it, touching on the history of Rugby School which was originally meant to be a free Grammar School for local boys but gradually became a private school for fee-paying pupils drawn from all over the country. I am told that the Lawrence Sherrif School (named for the founder of Rugby School) was created to continue the original intentions of Rugby School.

Rugby School Today

In any case, we arrived (all too soon) at our ultimate destination, the Dun Cow, which has its own storied history and was first built in around 1540. You’ll see the outside of the Pub below and a representation of the Dun Cow below that.

If you were to ask me she’s a bit of a page 3 cow but legend says she was a "monstrous beast four yards high and six yards long" which provided milk to the locals.  A witch made it go on a murderous rampage (which, I guess, is what witches do) until it was slain by Guy, Earl of Warwick! I imagine it’s a bit of a change from dragon-slaying, right? I am sure his fellow knights were suitably impressed by his bravery and prowess

French Knights being truly impressed

Lunch was rather splendid, a very good Sunday lunch indeed. The roasties and Yorkshire puds did not appear to be celebrating their birthdays (a feature of pub Sunday lunches in my experience) and we were served with humour and attitude by the staff there. However, what made it truly special, as you hope these days will be, was the company and conversation, which ranged all over the place and didn’t hesitate to go into some deep places which I won’t be talking about here!

Afterwards, we went on a tour of the immediate area and I found, as well as some lovely old houses, to my complete shock, the site of ‘Guy Fawkes House’, marked by an understated plaque, with no commercialism in sight!  

This was the old Lion Inn where the gunpowder Plot conspirators met on the fifth of November, 1605 to await news of the destruction of Westminster. Upon the arrest of Guy Fawkes their plan to seize Princess Elizabeth from nearby Coombe Abbey was abandoned and the rebellion which led to their defeat three days after the fifth was planned by the conspirators here at the Lion. To commemorate these connections this old inn goes by the name GUY FAWKES HOUSE (Dunchurch Parish Council. A.D. 1951).’ So Guy Fawkes never lived here and nor did he own the property, but who cares! It was quite a find nonetheless!

Walking around the area (you’ll see something of it in the photos) was a real treat, especially if, like me, you enjoy the old places in this country but the thing that struck me was that there were fresh flowers on some old grave sites. Given where I was at the time this gave me a degree of hope in the human spirit.

So we headed back, by murky passages, and some roads, where I was treated to more fine company (and a nice cup of tea) after which  I headed home. By now it was dark so I couldn’t enjoy the journey back in quite the same way but I did get a nice break in a service station where I reflected on the day.

Reflections

I have said before that one of the things I am fortunate to be rich in is my friends. This day reminded me very forcibly of that simple fact, which is, in essence, why I’m writing about it.

Don’t misunderstand me, I’d like to be rich in knowledge and wisdom, and well, riches, but If I had to choose just one of these things to have, this is what I would select first of all. I am really, truly, rich in this regard and I am so very thankful for it.