| Where: | Formerly Winchelsea, East Sussex in Castle Street |
| When: | Formerly Boxing Day 26th December |
| Time: | Formerly 11 am |
Every Boxing Day the residents of Winchelsea played a game in the street using a representation of a Frenchman’s Head. The custom began hundreds of years ago, when the French were the traditional enemies of the English and Winchelsea was right at the forefront of the defence of the realm; as a crucial port it was besieged in the fourteenth century by (yes, you’ve guessed!) the French. Like many popular sports, it was suppressed by the authorities amidst complaints about disorder, but happily in 1999 the game was revived and was an annual fixture ever since up to 2021. At 11 o’clock a small crowd gathered to watch 3 teams compete for possession of the Head so they could give it a hard kick and put it in the moveable goal in the form of a barrel in the street – apart from this there were few rules and play was rough, fast and furious and rather like the Shrove Tuesday and Borders ball games (see separate articles, mostly in February and Shrovetide tables on this site). After about half-an-hour it was all over for another year, hopefully with only a few bruises from the scrum.
Helpful Hints
Due to the relocation of the organiser of the game, it appears to have currently died out. If you have any information about it going ahead please let me know- despite making inquiries in 2023 I wasn’t able to find any evidence that it still takes place.
This event appears to be little known outside Winchelsea but is part of a long tradition of street games – and if you’re from the South East it’s the only example for many miles other than the Good Friday match at Chiddingstone (unless anyone knows of more?). Visitors were welcome to don a vest and join a team on the day. The game started very near 11 am (so don’t be alarmed if you arrive early and can only find a few dog-walkers out and about- it usually still happened up until 2022) .As it’s so hard to find out about I’d advise that it’s somewhat uncertain.Even in 2022 it looked as though it was going ahead just days beforehand (see Facebook group below)though the person who usually organised it had moved house.
When the weather was inclement the game was cut short so I advised arriving for the start in case you missed the action! In 2019 it lasted less than 20 action-packed minutes.
Click here for the local Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/501019860712794
Click here for more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it9Yx-CCOLg
Thanks to Valmai Goodyear for sharing info on this one!
This year- 2022- no one took part. No one on the streets.
Thanks for the update-wonder if it’s a victim of covid?! As mentioned it’s really difficult to find anything out about this one so that’s useful info, thanks.