Playing at altitude: Yorkshire’s highest cricket grounds

The idea for this highest cricket grounds in Yorkshire feature came after I did one on the smallest grounds that got quite a bit of attention and discussion.

Before researching to come up with a shortlist, I set some criteria to judge by. You’d think that was simple enough but there are a surprising number of nuances that soon crop up.

Laying down the rules

Is it clubs and schools? The Cricket Yorkshire shortlist is based on cricket club grounds but if there is a school outpost on top of a mountain then all power to their lofty ambitions.

Is it any cricket ground in Yorkshire? No – I am interpreting a cricket ground as somewhere that hosts the game regularly across a season. So, not a one-off game where someone rolled out a mat up Whernside.

What constitutes Yorkshire? Yikes.

Current administrative boundaries or pre-1974, local government shake-up? It’s ultimately a question of history over admin – and your personal opinion. I swithered and decided to not include a club (Austerlands) that is Oldham.

(We have dived into that previously – and a visit to Austerlands -with Where does Yorkshire and its club cricket begin and end?)

This will galvanise some perhaps but the judgement came from the fact that they list Lancashire as the home county on their own Play-Cricket website. If you think otherwise then Austerlands slot into the top five highest grounds.

What is the most reliable way to judge elevation?

After some tinkering and understanding various metrics, I’ve based this shortlist on OS Maps – the Ordnance Survey (OS) is Great Britain’s national mapping service and the definitive source. Third-party websites use data from the OS but this route allowed me to search via postcode then locate an exact place.

Have I searched every cricket ground in Yorkshire?

No. 😁 That would take a long, long time and there’s no particular need once you know the highest areas. That said, there conceivably might be an omission. If so, drop me a note and I’ll explore then update this if needs be.

How did I do the research?

You can plug in a cricket club postcode, find the right cricket ground locally and pin the exact location (yes, I did all that myself manually rather than use AI – which rapidly becomes flawed).

It was a bit of a rabbit hole though. Some cricket club grounds you think would be (literally) up there are way short. Marsden (255m) & Haworth (232m) don’t make the top ten.

There are also subtleties. You can pin a location anywhere on a cricket ground and it might vary up to 5m in height in two spots.

But, it was a lot of fun and I wonder how many cricket grounds you get right? Did you guess the top spot? (I kept thinking of ‘high’ grounds that ended up being nowhere near.)

The Top 10 highest cricket grounds in Yorkshire

Here are their rankings, with elevation and grid ref included:

1. Queensbury

Elevation: 363m or ~1,191ft

Grid ref: SE 09052 30467

2. Thornton CC

Elevation: 318m or ~1,043ft

Grid ref: SE 09015 33159

3. Cartworth Moor CC

Elevation: 313m or ~1,027ft

Grid ref: SE 13396 06720

4. Denholme CC

Elevation: 289m or ~948ft

Grid ref: SE 07038 34459

5. Green Moor CC

Elevation: 285m or ~935ft

Grid ref: SK 28019 99140

Just outside the top 5:

6. Bradshaw CC

Elevation: 284m or ~932ft

Grid ref: SE 08041 30265

7. Old Town CC

Elevation: 277m or ~909ft

Grid ref: SD 99785 28483

8. Oakworth CC

Elevation: 274m or ~899ft

Grid ref: SE 02549 39237

9. Illingworth St Marys CC

Elevation: 273m or ~896ft

Grid ref: SE 07450 28757

10. Outlane CC

Elevation: 272m or ~893ft

Grid ref: SE 02662 39274

Excluded: Austerlands (298 m, ~978 ft), Greater Manchester, which is ruled out but would otherwise sit 4th.

That’s right. Queensbury Cricket Club is the highest cricket ground in Yorkshire – and I was there earlier this season.

You can see other solar systems from up there as well as Stoodley Pike and Emley Moor. Plus a few cows and horses.

As it happens, I’ve been to five of the top ten (so some good ideas for future trips) and there’s a heavy presence of Halifax Cricket League outposts. Or should that be up-posts?

What’s your favourite ground from the list? Any stories of playing, officiating or spectating?

What to read more?

Thanks for reading – Check out the smallest cricket grounds in Yorkshire feature – what else would you like to read if we extend this series?

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