The Ring, Blackfriars Road, SE1 (1925)

The Ring, Blackfriars Road, SE1 (1925)

Although established as a boxing venue in 1910, the building dated from 1783 as the Surrey Congregational Chapel by the Reverend Rowland Hill - who reportedly opted for the unusual, circular design so that there would be no corners in which the devil could hide.

The person responsible for overseeing the chapel's conversion was Dick Burge, a former English middleweight champion from Cheltenham. The former place of worship was then a warehouse.

Dick and his wife Bella Burge enlisted the help of local homeless people to clean out the building and transform it into a state fit for presenting boxing to the public.

The Ring opened on 14 May 1910, with the Blackfriars arena soon staging events four to five times a week, and the name from the circular shape of the building. The term 'boxing ring' is not derived from the name of the building, contrary to local legend, but - still from the capital - instead from the London Prize Ring Rules in 1743, which specified a small circle in the centre of the fight area where the boxers met at the start of each round. The term 'ringside seat' dates from the 1860s.

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