A place a day Tom Cribbs Meadow

 Tom Cribbs Meadow is the site on which the bare knuckle fighter Tom Cribb fought the American, former slave Tom Molineaux, in 1811, beating him in 11 rounds watched by 15,000 people.

This is quite a thing to imagine while standing in this now, very peaceful place.

Some might consider that the Meadow ought to be named for Tom Molineux, and not Tom Cribb, for the story of the former slave is, perhaps one of Great Merit..

Their previous fight, the year before had been controversial because Molineaux was injured when the crowd invaded the ring, and Cribb at one point seemed to have taken longer than the specified time to return to the centre of the ring. It may be that the second fight at this location, Tom Cribbs, Meadow in Rutland, was to settle that dispute, and prove that Cribbs was the victor.

The meadow is  at Thistleton Gap in Rutland. Today it is a peaceful place blessed with wide natural diversity.

Tom Cribb (8 July 1781 – 11 May 1848) was an English bare-knuckle boxer of the 19th century.^[3] He was All England Champion from 1808 to 1822.^[4][5]

Having beaten Gregson, Belcher and Molineaux, Cribb's reputation was so high that he received no further challenges for a further eleven years, and eventually retired from the ring in 1822. Dowling (1841) records that 'On 15th May 1822, Cribb publicly resigned the championship on the stage of the Fives Court, on which occasion he was presented with a belt, and was succeeded by Tom Spring'.^[5][15]

Tom Cribb has a surprisingly broad legacy.

Upon retirement Cribb became a coal merchant (and part-time boxing trainer). Later he worked as a pub landlord, running the Union Arms, Panton Street, close to Haymarket in central London.

In 1839 he relocated to Woolwich in south-east London where he died in 1848, aged 66. He was buried in the churchyard of St Mary Magdalene, Woolwich – where a monument to his memory was erected.

Cribb's tomb, in the shape of a lion resting his paw on an urn, still stands in St Mary's Gardens in Woolwich. Also in Woolwich, a road in the Royal Arsenal area has been named in his honour.

The Tom Cribb pub is located at 36 Panton Street, St James, London. This is the same address as the Union Arms, which was originally 26 Panton Street, but later renumbered.

In Charles Dickens' comic novel Martin Chuzzlewit (ch.9), Cribb is humorously cited as the inventor of a defensive stance used by the boy Bailey, as the landlady Mrs Todgers aims a smack at his head.

Cribb's fights with Molineaux, was turned into a 2014 play by Ed Viney called Prize Fighters.^[16]

Molineaux was born into slavery on a plantation in the State of Virginia, USA in 1784, .^[2][3] taking his owners' surname.^[2] he boxed with other slaves to entertain plantation owners and was granted his freedom and $500 after winning a fight on which the son of the plantation owner had staked $100,000.^[2] 

After obtaining his freedom, Molineaux battled his way up from the Deep South to New York,^[2] where he was said to have been involved in "several battles" and had claimed the title "Champion of America".^[2] In NYC Molineaux learned of the money and status of bare knuckle fighters in England. Molineaux found his way to London in 1809 where he made contact with Bill Richmond, another ex-slave-turned-boxer who ran the pub the Horse and Dolphinin Leicester Square, London.^[2] Molineaux's first fight in England occurred at Tothill Fields, Westminster, on July 24, 1810. According to one report, the match was preceded by bull baiting.^[6] Molineaux won the fight, beating Jack Burrows of Bristol in front of a small crowd in 65 minutes.^[2] Bill Richmond seconded Molineaux for the fight^[7] and Tom Cribb seconded Burrows.^[6]

Molineaux's second fight in England was against Tom Blake, whose nickname was "Tom Tough".^[2] 

On December 3, 1810, having been trained by Bill Richmond, Molineaux fought Tom Cribb at Shenington Hollow in Oxfordshire^[8] for the English title. 

Molineaux proved a powerful and intelligent fighter, and the two heavily battered each other. There was a disturbance in the 19th round as Molineaux and Cribb were locked in a wrestler's hold (legal under the rules of the time) so that neither could hit the other nor escape. The referee stood by, uncertain whether he should break the two apart, and the dissatisfied crowd pushed into the ring. In the confusion, Molineaux hurt his left hand; Egan could not tell if it had been broken.^[4] There was a dispute over whether Cribb had returned to the line before the allowed 30 seconds had passed. If he had not, Molineaux would have won, but the referee could not tell in the confusion and the fight went on. After the 34th round, Molineaux said he could not continue,^[4] but his second persuaded him to return to the ring, where he was defeated in the 35th round.

Two days after the fight, Richmond took Molineaux to the Stock Exchange in London, where the boxer received an ovation and was presented with 45 guineas.^[3]

Molineaux's prizefighting career ended in 1815. However, he continued to show his talents in sparring exhibitions. After visiting Scotland, he toured Ireland, where in 1817, he was reportedly in the northern part of the island.^[7] He suffered from tuberculosis.^[13] After a stint in a debtors' prison he became increasingly dependent on alcohol.

He died penniless in the bandroom of the 77th Regiment in Galway, Ireland, on 4 August 1818.^[1] He was 34 years old.

In 2018, Galway City Museum held an exhibition on the life of Molineaux to mark the 200th anniversary of his death.^[14] Also in 2018 a plaque was erected in Galway at the site of his death.^[15]

In 2019, Katie Taylor unveiled a headstone over his previously unmarked grave in St James' graveyard in Galway.^[16]

Location of Tom Cribbs Meadow

52o45’37.7N 0o 40’09.2 W