Priory of Saint Mary Overy

The Priory of Saint Mary Overy is a dismantled religious site whose ruins mark the outskirts of the field selected for a prizefight. Its location, beyond the farthest houses and near an old bear garden, gives the contest a setting apart from ordinary urban life.

Setting and Remains

The chosen field lay farther out than the bear garden, where bears, bulls, and dogs had formerly been baited, and beside the ruins of the Priory of Saint Mary Overy. The priory had been dismantled by Henry VIII. The account establishes the ruins as a nearby landmark rather than describing the remains themselves; their presence locates the field at the city’s edge, beyond the line of its houses.

The Field and the Prizefight

The field’s exposed position is underscored by the weather: a northerly wind cut across it, and light rain froze as it fell. Some of the gentlemen present were recognizable as family men because they raised umbrellas. The opposing sides had their own appointed attendants: Colonel Moncreif served as umpire for Phelem-ghe-Madone, with Kilter as second, while the Honourable Pughe Beaumaris umpired for Helmsgail and Lord Desertum of Kilcarry acted as bottle-holder. Against this cold, remote backdrop, the nearby priory ruins help define the prizefight’s setting outside the city’s domestic and inhabited spaces.