Holbeck Moor Cockfight

Grove Inn, Back Row, Holbeck, Leeds.

I got this song in about 1963 from my old friend Bob Spray, a member of the short-lived group ‘The Cropper Lads’. He told me he had learnt it from a bloke who sang it in ‘The Grove’ a few years previous.

The singer, Dave Lutey, stated that there used to be a cock pit at the back of the Grove Inn, but we were never able to substantiate this.

Frank Kidson in his book Traditional Tunes, published in 1891, gives three verses much like the above. Kidson says in his notes that he obtained several copies of the air and words in the Holbeck and Hunslet district of Leeds, where there had been a large cockfighting scene forty years before.

Holbeck Moor Cockfight

Come, all ye cockers far and near.
I'll tell of a cockfight, when and where.
On Holbeck Moor I heard them say,
Between the black and our Bonny Grey.

Ten lads from Hunslet Town they came
With all the money that they had earned’
The reason why they all did say,
Their black's too big for our Bonny Grey.

So it's into the pub for to take a sup,
This cock-fight it was soon made up,
For twenty pounds these cocks would play,
The charcoal-black and the Bonny Grey.

The Hunslet lads stood shouting around:
I'll lay a quid to half a crown,
If our bird he gets fair play,
He'll make mincemeat out of your Bonny Grey.

So the cocks they went at it, and the grey was tossed,
The Hunslet lads cried, 'Nah, you've lost!'
Us Holbeck lads we went quite pale,
And wished we'd fought for a barrel of ale.

Now the cocks they at it, one, two, three,
And charcoal-black got struck in the eye.
They picked him up, to see fair play,
But the black wouldn’t fight with our Bonny Grey.

Now with silver breast aye and the silver wing,
He's sure to fight in front of the king.
We picked him up with a Hip Hooray,
Away we went with our Bonny Grey.

The Cockpit, etching by William Hogarth 1759

The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back thousands of years. The first book about it, 'The Commendation of cocks and Cockfighting', was written in 1607.
Cockfighting was a popular form of entertainment in the Inns and Alehouses of Leeds and at Holbeck Feast. During the early 18th Century, the Leeds Mercury carried notices
advertising cockfights sometimes held in conjunction with horse races. They were usually held on Holy Days and Easter, Whitsuntide and Midsummer were the most popular.

The two most famous cockfighting pits in Leeds were at the
Talbot, and Rose and Crown on Briggate.

Cockfighting was banned in England and Wales in 1835 and in Scotland in 1895.

About Mick

Mick Haywood is a traditional folk singer & folk song collector who has run and organised folk clubs and festivals for many years. He now lives in Whitby, North Yorkshire.

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Leeds Years

Holbeck Moor Cockfight

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