Robert Dover’s Cotswold Olimpick Games are held annually on the Friday evening after the Spring Bank Holiday on Dover’s Hill above Chipping Campden.(Except in 2012 when the Spring bank Holiday is moved to tag on to the Queens Diamond Jubilee national Holiday) A 20th century ‘Robert Dover’ together with his friend, ‘Endymion Porter’, open the Games in front of Dover’s Castle. Teams compete for the Championship of the Hill in a variety of events, including a sack race. On the upper level of the hill, there are two demonstration arenas for items such as Back Sword fighting and Morris Dancing As dusk falls, the hill is lit by a bonfire and fireworks display. Then, led by Robert Dover and two bands, a torchlight procession moves from Dover’s Hill down to the Square in Chipping Campden where pageantry and dancing bring the occasion to a fitting end.
The present Games continue the spirit of the original Games, dating from 1612 , when they were first organised by Robert Dover (1582-1652) ‘with leave from James I’. They were held on the Thursday and Friday of Whitweek, and included horse-racing, coursing, jumping, wrestling, backswords, pike drill, and country dancing. Robert Dover, a lawyer, presided over events ceremonially dressed in James I’s clothes, and a feature of the hillside was Dover’s Castle mounted with cannon to begin
events. The Games were popular with people from all ranks of society and William Shakespeare may well have attended them.
The Games were called Olimpick and were compared with the Greek Olympics (776BC-394AD). The title was used thereafter, long before the present series of Olympic Games which date from 1896. The Civil War ended the original Games, but they were continued after 1660 for nearly two hundred years. Known as Dover’s Meeting, they included wrestling, backsword fighting, dancing jigs, and a smock race for a Holland shift. Vivid accounts of them in the 18th century were provided by William Somervile and Richard Graves. The Games were suspended in 1853 with the enclosure of Weston sub Edge and in 1929 Dover’s Hill became National Trust property. The Games were held again in 1951 to celebrate the Festival of Britain and were fully revived with the founding of Robert Dover’s Games Society in 1965. In 1982 the British Olympic Association recognised the Games as part of its pre-history. Members are now looking towards 2012 as an important occasion for the Cotswold Olimpicks. On Friday, 1st June 2012 the Society will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Games. The London Olympic Games and Paralympics follow some seven weeks later. Plans are afoot for Chipping Campden to celebrate the major contribution made by Robert Dover and his Cotswold Olimpick Games to Olympic history and the ideals of sport.
If you would like to know more, please go to the website www.olimpickgames.co.uk
Dover’s
