Mangol Mumping

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I really don't know where to begin with this so maybe the beginning would be a good idea. A couple of weeks ago I was browsing the second-hand bookshops in Hay on Wye in search of some publications for my university studies. In a small dusty shop I was delving through a box of old maps and indentures when I found an old envelope labelled, "Devon". Inside were a sheaf of deeds dating from 1846 for a property at Okehampton, time was getting short and the envelope was priced at £16 so I bought it and moved on. When I got home I opened all the old papers and found an old crumpled sheet of parchment tucked inside a indenture of  Dean Prior. It had obviously suffered some fire damage from what looks to be a candle spill as there are wax stains all over it. I was about to bin it when I noticed the name 'Trumpeter' which rang a bell somewhere. After carefully opening the parchment I could see that despite the damage the text was still readable albeit in a very old script.

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Having done a palaeography course and learnt diddly squat I reached for the 'bible' - Gooder's 'Latin for Local History' and then discovered with help of a magnifying glass that it wasn't in Latin it was in English. Anyway, this is the wording as best as I can make out:

"Trumpeter Mangol Mumping

The lawes of this game are herewithe prestentyed as is the custome of the gayme, two teames of xii sturdy men oppoyse each other in combat. it is deciyded by throwe of a die wyche teame mumps firste., the other teame standeth in a dyomond formation each manne standeth one armes lenghte aparte, the first mumper taketh the mangol and giveth a myte swinge, any manne that be hitteth bye the mangol is saide to be mumped and must standeth aside, the mumper swinge again until he hitteth no manne whence the next mumper taketh his goe, once the whole teame hath been strucke by the mangol the swinges be tallyed, The next teame standeth on the Dymond & the other teame swingeth the mangol in same fashyion. Whenst bothe teames have been mumped the tallys decyde the winner. There beith no boddy armoure allyowed septing a thicke slice of stale breade playced over eache eare. If the mangol shulde breake the mumping stoppes tille a newe one be hunge from the powle. The powle shulde be no greater lengthe than xv feete and the halter no greater lengthe than x feete Mangol mumping shalle be helde on the 1st Sabbathe following Michaelmas upon the green platte as is callyed Mumps Meadow

Oct. XVII MDCCLXXIV".

This seems to be laying out the rules of some tradition called 'Mangol Mumping' which was held at Trumpeter which is a bit surprising as today it's only a small hamlet on south Dartmoor. A burn has taken out much of the date but it seems to suggest October 17th 1781? I have looked through all my Devon and Dartmoor folklore books and can find no reference of Mangol Mumping. I have even been to the library and trawled through all the early Transactions of the Devonshire Association - nothing.

Taking the old parchment literally it appears that Mangol Mumping took place on the first Sunday after Michaelmas Day which would put it to the beginning of October, this would certainly be the time of year for mangels. The tradition involved two teams of twelve men, a fifteen foot pole, a ten foot length on which a mangol is tied. One team stands in a diamond formation one arms length apart. The other team presumably swings the mangol and every one of the opposing team it hits is 'mumped' and has to stand aside. This process is repeated until the whole team has been mumped when the number of swings is counted. The teams then swap and the process begins again until the opposing team has been mumped at which point the number of swings are counted and the winner is the side that used the least swings? In other words it's like a game of table skittles but played outdoors with men instead of skittles.

The piece I don't quite get is, "no boddy armoure allyowed septing a thicke slice of stale breade playced over eache eare"? Does this mean that the players had doorstops of stale bread placed over their ears for protection? If so, I think if I was mumping I would be more concerned about catching a mangol square in the face that a whack around the ears. Perhaps the stale bread had mould on it to give immediate antibiotic protection?

As mentioned above I am no expert on old documents and have no idea of the true age of this particular one but it does look pretty ancient and it's very fragile. In which case if it is authentic then it details a long forgotten Dartmoor tradition which certainly dates back to at least the late 1700's. The only thing that concerns me is that the writing is very straight but then again look at some of the early manuscripts and they are just as straight. I was thinking about taking it to the Dartmoor National Park Authority to get an expert opinion but the again? So next time I am in Exeter I will take it to the museum and see if they have any views - so watch this space.