The History of Conkers

Perhaps they were playing Conkers in 1275, but no-one wrote about it.

There are references in Robert Southeys memoirs published in 1821 to early games similar to Conkers being played with Snail Shells or Hazelnuts, but the first recorded game using Horse Chestnuts is in 1848 on the Isle of Wight. The game spread gradually throughout Britain during the next hundred years.

It is reported that the Horse Chestnut tree was only introduced into England from the Continent in the late 1500's, so perhaps the raw materials were lacking until the tree spread further across the country.

There is uncertainty of the origins of the name.

The name may come from the dialect word conker, meaning "hard nut" (perhaps related to French conque meaning a conch, as the game was originally played using snail shells and small bits of string). 

The name may also be influenced by the verb conquer, as the earlier games involving shells and hazelnuts has also been called conquerors. 

Another possibility is that it is onomatopoeia, representing the sound made by a Horse Chestnut as it hits another hard object, such as a skull (another children's "game", also called conkers, consists of simply throwing the seeds at one another over a fence or wall).

Conkers are also known regionally as obblyonkers, cheggies* or cheesers. A "cheeser" is also a conker with one or more flat sides, this comes about due to it sharing its pod with other conkers (twins or triplets).

Cheggers was used in Lancaster, England in the 1920s.

In D. H. Lawrence's book Sons and Lovers, the game is referred to as cobblers by William Morel.