Quoiting medal

This little silver medal dates from the 1930s. It shows a figure playing quoits and is inscribed on the back with the name ‘ H McCormack’. McCormack came from Stranraer and was awarded this medal for his skill at the game. Quoiting – pronounced ‘kiting’ - was once a popular local game. The aim was to throw an iron ring – the quoit – onto a metal stake. The nearest quoit to the stake was the winner. A quoit could weigh up to 11 pounds (5 kg) and had to be pitched for 21 yards – so this was a game of strength as well as skill. Quoiting was very popular among the coal mining communities of Ayrshire, Lanarkshire and Upper Nithsdale and local quoiters would often play against groups of visiting miners. Stranraer had a quoiting pitch at Clashmahew – on the site later occupied by the curling rink – and there was another at Planting End near Castle Kennedy. The most famous local pitch was at Bladnoch, near Wigtown where torch-lit competitions sometimes continued well into the night. Large amounts of money changed hands at the larger matches. Quoiting was at its height between 1890 and the mid 1930s although matches continued to be played at Bladnoch into the 1950s. The game is now extinct in Wigtownshire but is still played at a small number of Scottish venues including Glenburn Miners' Club in Prestwick, The Working Men's Club at Larkhall, South Lanarkshire and at the Dunnottar Quoits Club, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire.
Object no :
SRAC029a, SRAC029b
Collection :
Creator :
NA
Place of Production :
NA
Dimensions :
NA
Materials :
silver
Location :
NA
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