A Horse Path A Horse Path
Horseshoes and quoits
Horseshoes
Even before the Romans built their hard roads, horse shoes of iron were used in England. By 1356 a fellowship of farriers had been formed in the city of London. The Worshipful Company of Farriers charter dates from 1674, by 1692 it had become a livery company of the City of London. To see more than 500 years of horseshoes visit the beautiful 12th century Great Hall of Oakham Castle, where 200 shoes recall the unique demand made by the Lord of the Manor that each peer of the realm must forfeit a horseshoe on first visiting Oakham in Rutland (top, right). See more about Horseshoes on-line or read Shire album 19 "Old Horseshoes" by Ivan G. Sparkes (top, left).
Quoits
In the USA the game of throwing the horseshoe to catch on a pin in the ground is still played. Some argue that the game of Quoits, which persists in England, started from this pastime others argue it has a deeper history emerging from discus throwing, with horseshoes as a vulgar cousin. In England perhaps for a thousand years around mining communities, metal rings have been thrown down a pitch to encircle a pin or hob embedded in soft clay. With current rules published in 1881 the Northern Game with an 11 yard pitch and quoits of persists in Cumbria and Northumbria, with pockets in Durham and Yorkshire. A version of the Long Game is played in East Anglia especially in pubs around Rougham in Suffolk where an 18 yard pitch is used with 11 pound quoits of about 9 inches diameter (nearly twice that of the Northern Game). For a list of pubs which play around Rougham in Suffolk as well as others in East Anglia look on-line, and read more in Joseph Strutt's Sports and Pastimes (1801).
