Richard Parkyn was a champion Cornish wrestler

Cornish wrestling

Cornish wrestling is a form of wrestling which has been established in Cornwall, an area of southwest Britain for several centuries. The referee is known as a 'stickler', and it is claimed that the popular meaning of the word as a 'pedant' originates from this usage...

. He was born at Parkyn's Shop which lies at three parish boundaries, St Columb Major

St Columb Major

St Columb Major is a civil parish and town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Often referred to locally as St Columb, it is situated approximately seven miles southwest of Wadebridge and six miles east of Newquay...

, St Columb Minor

St Columb Minor

St Columb Minor is a village on the north coast of Cornwall, UK. St. Columb alone by default refers to the nearby St. Columb Major.At one time St Columb Minor used to be the main settlement in the area, but it has now been encroached upon by its larger neighbour Newquay. The National School in the...

 and St Mawgan

St Mawgan

St Mawgan in Pydar is a civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The village of St Mawgan is situated four miles northeast of Newquay....

. There was a saying at the time that Parkyn was "So great that all three parishes claimed him". He was also known as The Great Parkyn. Little is recorded about his life other than newspaper reports of his fights. "Parkyn, a friend of the Cornish hero James Polkinghorne

James Polkinghorne

James Polkinghorne was a champion Cornish wrestler of the 19th century. He was born in 1788 at St Keverne, Cornwall, United Kingdom but spent much of his life at St. Columb Major, where he ran a pub called the Red Lion.-Cann's match with Polkinghorne:...

  died at Parkyn Shop where he and his ancestors resided during 170 years on 28 May 1853, aged 81 years."

Physique

According to the Sporting Magazine... "His head, a little bald on the crown, but otherwise well covered with fine bushy black hair, curling a little on his broad brawny shoulders, and his erect honest bold front and firm step, were worth travelling a hundred miles to behold. He stands six feet high, and weighs two hundred and thirty-two pounds, although as lean as a post-horse."

Thomas King Chambers wrote of comparing him to a bronze statue of Hercules

Hercules

Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...

.
The nearest approach to it which I have heard of, as attained by muscular development without awkward and inconvenient obesity, is in the instance of Parkins {sic], the famous Cornish wrestler, whose ordinary weight in his clothes was sixteen stone, eleven pounds, his height being six feet.

His physique was astounding if compared to a modern equivalent such as Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....

who was 6 feet 2 inches and weighed two hundred and thirty-five pounds.

Famous bout with Jordan of Devon

WRESTLING. Saltash diversions, Cornwall, ended on Saturday, the 27th where the amateurs of wrestling were highly gratified by seeing the two great Devonshire players, Jordan and Wadling, play against two Cornish men, Parkin and Jolly, who came fron St. Columb, purposely to play with them, in consequence of its being erroneously inserted in some of the newspapers that Jordan alone threw at Torpoint fair, fifteen of the best players in Cornwall. We understand these two great champions of Devonshire were both put on their backs in less than two minutes, by Parkyn and Jolly, who were declared, without the least dispute, to be the victors, and had the first and second prizes given them, and Cowling, another Cornish player, won the third prize. The Cornish gentlemen offered on the ground (in answer to a bet offered at Crediton,) to get ten Cornish men who should play against the same number of Devonshire men for any sum, from one hundred to a thousand pounds.