Sentence:  ... there were actually several golf-like games played from the mid-13th Century onwards. One of these games was "pell mell", the forerunner of modern croquet, which involved hitting the ball back and forth over a short distance and having to drive the ball through a hoop at either end of the course. Among the everyday activities recorded in the stained glass of cathedrals, one window at Gloucester Cathedral preserves the image of a <WSD>cambuca</WSD> player about to strike his ball. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A 12th-century English game somewhat similar to golf in that it was played with a wooden ball similar to a golf ball.