Fives "causes swearing, fighting, quarreling and much wickedness"
No, not an extract from Nick Bunyan's long (un)anticipated autobiography, but a quote from the Martock Churchwardens' accounts for the year 1740. Versions of handball or Fives were prevalent in churchyards for centuries, especially in the West Country (CLICK HERE for more on this topic) and this account, published in "Notes & Queries for Somerset and Dorset" in December 1921, gives a wonderful flavour of how the game was played, the problems it caused and the lengths to which some people went to stop it.
