Note 27 — Chapter V

"The piece of ground without the walls, on which the annual horse-races of Chester are run, cannot well be passed over in silence. The Dee, after quitting the contracted pass at the bridge, flows beneath an incurvated clayey cliff, and washes on the right a fine and extensive meadow, long since protected against its ravages by a lofty dike: it is called Rood-eye.

"The name of this spot is taken from Eye, its watery situation, and Rood, the cross which stood there, whose base is still to be seen. On this place the lusty youth of former days exercised themselves in the manly sports of the age, in archery, running, leaping, and wrestling; in mock fights, and gallant and romantic triumphs.

"A standard was the prize of emulation in the sports celebrated on the Rood-eye. But in the year 1609 the amusements took a new form; and under the reign of the peaceful James the youthful cavaliers laid aside their mimic war, and horse-racing commenced.

"The first prizes we hear of after the suppression of the triumph, were a bell and bowl to be run for on Saint George's day, which were provided in 1609 by Mr. Robert Amery, formerly Sheriff of the city, and were brought down to the Rood-eye with great solemnity. This seems to have been the origin of the plate given by the city, and annually ran for on the same day to the present time. A bell was a common prize. A little golden bell was the reward of victory in 1607 at the races near York; whence came the proverb, for success of any kind, to bear the bell."—Pennant's Tour through Wales, vol. I. pp. 253, 254, 255, 256, 257.