Where does Yorkshire (and its club cricket) begin and end?

Geographically, where does Yorkshire (and its club cricket) begin and end? 

Plenty would say Saddleworth is still very much part of the Broad Acres, despite it being more than 50 years since this most scenic of upland districts, a West Riding outlier, was absorbed by the Greater Manchester behemoth.

Yorkshire Ridings

The Yorkshire Society sums up thus the April 1, 1974 abolition of Yorkshire’s three Ridings – from the Anglo-Saxon Thriddings, meaning Thirds – county councils:

“After little debate and no democratic vote, our beloved Yorkshire Province was divided into what became the huge rural, landowner-dominated County of North Yorkshire, covering around two thirds of the land area of Yorkshire but with only a ninth of the population, and the heavily populated southern parts of West Riding divided into the two Metropolitan Counties of West and South Yorkshire. 

“The old East Riding, after losing its northern fringe to North Yorkshire, was thrust into ill-fated Humberside. Worse, parts of what had been West Riding were incorporated into Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Cumbria, and part of North Riding, including Middlesbrough, went into the short-lived county of Cleveland, now Teesside. For many people, losing their Yorkshire identity was a cause of real upset. Many are still angry.”

This was in my mind when, time-rich, on a recent midweek afternoon, I treated myself to a trundle along the A640, between Outlane and Denshaw, as I made for Austerlands Cricket Club, whose ground, located at a fraction under a thousand feet, is on the northern edge of the Saddleworth communities of Lees, Scouthead, and Springhead.

Pule Hill panorama

If you are not in a hurry, the A640 Huddersfield to Rochdale road beats, hands down, the parallel M62. Being higher than the motorway, it offers finer views of the South Pennine massif, including a wonderful panorama across the upper Colne Valley; Pule Hill and all. Better still, it is quiet!

Winding past Buckstones, weather-scoured gritstone outcrops, then alongside the Dowry and New Year’s Bridge reservoirs, before dropping into Denshaw, I was reminded of a visit to Friarmere Cricket Club.

Arriving early that afternoon, for a fixture with neighbouring Oldham, I had time to chat to the groundskeeper.

To my ear, he had the broadest Lancashire accent yet insisted he was Yorkshire, through and through.

The once-famous Saddleworth & District League merged with the Central Lancashire to become the short-lived Pennine League. Within a couple of years, the Saddleworth clubs had joined the Greater Manchester League, a now-sprawling competition.

Saddleworth clubs

In addition to Austerlands and Friarmere, other Saddleworth clubs once in Yorkshire (older residents will tell you they still are!) include the Huddersfield Premier League’s Delph & Dobcross, and the Greater Manchester League quartet of Greenfield, Saddleworth (whose Tame-side ground is at Greenfield), Springhead, and Uppermill.

Friendly locals at Austerlands’ Thorpe Lane ground told me the Yorkshire-Lancashire border used to run (as at Todmorden Cricket Club) right through the middle of the pitch.

They mentioned a nearby pub whose interior was once bisected by the same line of demarcation. Inevitably, the adjoining local authorities had different licensing laws. Moving from one side of the pub to the other, at the appropriate time, ensuring boozing remained legal!

The most significant years of my childhood were spent amid the South Pennines, so always I’ve had a soft spot for the district’s spectacular scenery.

At Austerlands Cricket Club, the views are sensational.

Climb to the highest vantage point, above a row of bank-top benches in the Thorpe Lane ground’s northwest corner, close to a trig point, and prepare to absorb a sweeping semi-circle of gaunt hills.

Away to the south, with the land falling away, precipitously, from a white picket fence surrounding the cricket pitch, Hartshead Pike Tower is prominent.

The Grade II listed tower, a well-known landmark, positioned at 876 feet, was erected in its present shapely form during the 1860s to commemorate the marriage of Albert Edward (i.e. King Edward VII) to Princess Alexandra, a Copenhagen-born Dane.

Look west, and beyond the rooftops and mills of Oldham can be seen central Manchester’s skyscrapers and tower blocks. Must be 10 miles away. Cool!

The pink ball and pyjamas game I saw was a Pool Five fixture in the Greater Manchester League’s Championship 20 competition. Austerland Tigers took on Kings XI Glodwick, opposition from Oldham. 

Austerlands play in the Greater Manchester League’s fourth tier, Glodwick its third.

Despite intermittent sunshine, it was decidedly parky at a breezy Thorpe Lane. To be strictly accurate, it started parky but ended absolutely bitter!

An Austerlands player, fielding on the boundary, close to me, during the first innings, rubbed – vigorously – his bare arms between deliveries.

“It’s a cold one,” he remarked. I guess if a cricketer accustomed to playing, most weeks, at this altitude believes it’s cold, it really must be cold.

Later, a Glodwick fielder, banished similarly, by his captain, to the pitch’s outer reaches, blew on his fingers repeatedly as he awaited an opportunity to send down a few spinners.

On an unpredictable wicket (one minute the ball was rearing at the batter’s chest, the next it barely bounced), Glodwick, who elected to bat, scored 109-9 from their 20 overs. A starring role for No 4 batter Ahsan Khan (41 not out off 41, two sixes, three fours).

It didn’t look a particularly daunting total but, in the event, proved just enough.

At 43-6, the Austerlands reply was wallowing like a dinghy in a swell. But their fifth and eighth batters, Umega Jasenthuliyana (21 off 22) and Adam Sunderland (23 not out off 26) respectively, added 40 for the seventh wicket, to keep alive the contest.

Near the end, with darkness beginning to envelop the ground, Glodwick lost a player to injury. Given the poor light, they were fortunate to not lose him. Period! He had tweaked a hamstring whilst bowling spinners. The cold, I guess, to blame.

Despite fielding with just 10 at the denouement, Glodwick dismissed Austerlands for 100 in 17.4 overs. A job well done; a celebration only too obviously hard earned.

Already, my cricketing travels have taken me to the Saddleworth grounds of the Austerlands, Delph & Dobcross, Friarmere, and Greenfield clubs. 

After a hugely enjoyable – albeit, clothing-wise, multi-layer – experience at Thorpe Lane, I now have Saddleworth, Springhead, and Uppermill in my sights.

Once in Yorkshire

Driving home, in the dark via the speedier and better lit M62, I reflected on other cricket clubs that once were in Yorkshire.

Almost too many to count in what is now Teesside. I was working in Middlesbrough when, in 1996, Yorkshire announced they would no longer play first-class games at Acklam Park, Middlesbrough. I remember well the irritation that decision provoked. 

Happily, in recent seasons, Yorkshire have returned, albeit only to play representative T20 matches, against the North Yorkshire & South Durham Premier League, at the likes of Acklam Park and Marton’s Parkway ground.

Two west Craven clubs sprang to mind: Barnoldswick and Earby, each formerly of the Ribblesdale League, play in the Championship division – i.e. the second tier – of the North West League, established as recently as 2023.

In Yorkshire’s deep south, the Bawtry & Everton club have made a promising start to the top-flight season in the Bassetlaw & District League. After seven games, they top the table, by three points. Historically, the West Riding of Yorkshire-Nottinghamshire border divided the town of Bawtry, now part of the City of Doncaster.

Boot on the other foot: in recent seasons, to the bafflement of at least some of their supporters, Lancashire have played first-class (and other) fixtures at Sedbergh School, once a western outpost of the West Riding, now part of Cumbria. Some of the school’s lesser XIs are part of the Northern Pyramid/Westmorland League structure.

Enjoyed the read?

You can check out other club visits by Andrew in his column, Miles Per Gallon.

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