Grasmere Sports' Guide to Knowing Your 'Buttocks' From Your 'Hanks'

Ahead of its 2022 ‘renaissance’ event, Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show has helpfully put together a jargon-busting guide for anyone attending its traditional sporting extravaganza, recognising some knowledge may have dissipated in the two years it has been away. 

Realising visitors could get bamboozled hearing terms such as ‘buttocks’, ‘hanks’ and ‘hipes’ banded around, it has compiled some definitions, to help them negotiate the minefield of terminology that can surround traditional sports such as Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling, hound trailing (hounds following aniseed trails) and fell running.

Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling itself is something that can baffle, with this form of wrestling being ‘backhold’ in nature and securing a ‘win’ when any part of an opponent’s body, other than the soles of their feet, touches the ground. 

Hound trailing is another very local passion, involving specially trained dogs tearing up ‘fells’, as they follow an aniseed and paraffin trail, to the accompaniment of owners banging their metal bowls.  

Add to this fell running – a distinctly Lake District type of trail running – and it takes some getting used to.

Deborah Black, Field and Sports Manager of Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show says: “We hope our guide to some of the sporting terminology and jargon will help boost enjoyment of the day and not leave visitors feeling they have entered into a foreign land.  Once you know your buttocks from your hanks, hipes and chips, everything becomes a lot clearer.”

In alphabetical order, the guide is as follows:

Back Heel                    A move in Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling that hacks an opponent’s legs from under them, from the outside.

Backhold                     The Cumberland and Westmorland style of wrestling, involving hands being locked together behind an opponent’s back.  

Breaking Hold             One way to lose a Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling fight – allowing hands to break out of backhold.

Butter Crags                The vertiginous 295-metre ‘mountain’ which the fell runners must ascend and descend, at Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show.

Buttocking                   A fall caused when one Cumberland and Westmorland wrestler moves ahead of an opponent and wrenches them forwards, throwing them to the ground.

Catching                      The art of stopping a running hound as it finishes a hound trail race.

Chips                           Word used to describe the ‘moves’ in Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling.

Cross Buttock              A buttocking move in which the Cumberland and Westmorland wrestler knocks the opponent’s legs back whilst performing their throwing move.

Dog Fall                       A void fall in Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling, as the judges cannot make a decision on the move.

Fell                              The Lake District equivalent of a mountain or hill.

Fell running                 A type of trail running developed by Lakeland farmers and shepherds, involving running across rough terrain and navigating through bracken and scree on the Cumbrian fells.

Full Buttock                 Where a Cumberland and Westmorland wrestler performs a buttocking move, by slipping under the opponent and bringing them on to their back, before crashing them to the ground.

Hank                            A move in which a Cumberland and Westmorland wrestler entwines their legs around their opponent’s leg and then straightens it, to force them to the ground.

Hipes                           Lifting throws in Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling that act so as to swing an opponent until their legs fly from under them and they can be brought to the ground.

Inside Click                  A Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling move always performed by the left leg, which pushes that leg back between the opponent’s legs, to hook on to their own leg and cause a topple.

Inside Hipe                  A Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling move that sees the opponent lifted with the arms and with the knee placed between their legs, so as to turn them mid-air and effect a fall.

Leg-up Buttock            A buttocking move, carried out through a Cumberland and Westmorland wrestler pushing up their leg between their opponent’s so it acts as a fulcrum.

Long Leap                    The traditional long jump competition staged at Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show.

On-guard Position       The wrestling position at the start of a Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling match, where players each have their chin on their opponent’s shoulder and have their hands held tightly together in a lock behind their backs (the backhold).

Outside Hipe               A lifting move in Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling that sees the opponent’s legs knocked out of the way with either the foot or knee.

Outside Stroke            A move in Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling in which the opponent is spun on to a tripping foot.

Slipping                       The act of releasing a hound at the start of a hound trail race.

More information about the programme and all of the activity going on can be found at www.grasmeresports.com

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Editors notes

Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show is an iconic event taking place in the heart of the English Lake District on the August Bank Holiday weekend. Its long historic roots date back to 1868 and it is renowned for its fell running, hound trails and Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling competitions, as well as being a fantastic family day out.