River Witham the Source of the 8Th Longest River Wholly in England Is
River Witham The source of the 8th longest river wholly in England is just outside the county, Lincolnshire, through which it follows almost all of a 132km course to the sea, which is shown on the map which accompanies Table Wi1 at the end of the document. Three kilometres west of the village of South Witham, on a minor road called Fosse Lane, a sign points west over a stile to a nature reserve. There, the borders of 3 counties, Lincolnshire, Rutland and Leicestershire meet. The reserve is called Cribb’s Meadow, named for a famous prize fighter of the early 19th century; at first sight a bizarre choice at such a location, though there is a rational explanation. It was known as Thistleton Gap when Tom Cribb had a victory here in a world championship boxing match against an American, Tom Molineaux, on 28th September 1811; presumably it was the only time he was near the place, as he was a Bristolian who lived much of his life in London. The organisers of bare-knuckle fights favoured venues at such meeting points of counties, which were distant from centres of population; they aimed to confuse Justices of the Peace who had a duty to interrupt the illegal contests. Even if the responsible Justices managed to attend and intervene, a contest might be restarted nearby, by slipping over the border into a different jurisdiction. In this fight, which bore little resemblance to the largely sanitised boxing matches of today, it is certain that heavy blows were landed, blood was drawn, and money changed hands, before Cribb won in 11 rounds; a relatively short fight, as it had taken him over 30 rounds to beat the same opponent at the end of the previous year to win his title.
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