"Hi Team Hydonian
I have just come across a couple of real photographic postcards which might be of interest to you.
They both have Werneth Low written on the back but that is it!
I was wondering if you could shed any light on the event which is taking place and the date - I think it is around 1910."
We believe it to be Hyde Cricket Club on Werneth Low but if anyone can shed any more light on them please contact us.
Many Thanks, Steve, :)
UPDATE (from Dave Williams)
I've been up to Hillside Road today (3 Oct) and taken a photo from a point quite close to the cricket ground to see how it compares with that in the first photo above. Here it is:
30 comments:
It is not Hyde Cricket club because the ground on Werneth Low was not purchased until around 1939.All the last home matches were played away from home.
The fellow sat between the two women on the front row appears to be holding a microphone, there are also boy scouts and what looks to be a boys brigade present. I think it is some kind of run for a Suday school outing sometime in the early 1900s. It could very well be taken at Woodley Cricket club just of Pennine Road, the back ground appears to fit the slope of Werneth Low towards Romiley
It looks like it's Hyde Cricket Club's original ground at Pole Bank. We featured the history of the club in May this year and that has a photo of the opening of the new pavilion in 1928 which looks as if it's the one shown in the first photo here.
On second thoughts I don't think it's the same pavilion, the one in the May photo looks wider than the one in today's photo. I still think it's probably Pole Bank though, and an earlier photo, so perhaps that's the orginal pavilion.
Had this been taken at Hyde Cricket Club at Pole Bank we would hardly have been likely to see the high hilly ground in the background of the picture. Bagshaw's farm was directly in front of the ground, and both the farm and cottages would have been in the picture. Had the picture been taken at the bottom end of the ground we would then have to explain the hilly background. The old Pavillion was moved from Pole Bank to Werneth Low and it was twice the size of the Pavillion in the picture.
I think this might be at Romiley Cricket Club. The hillsides on the left of the first picture are maybe around Cowlishaw lane. I Can't say I'm 100% certain though.
Barry in Oz. What makes you think it's a cricket club ? I can see some dressed in football shirts and some dressed like Goal keepers.
Now this is a real puzzler, isnt it? Nobody seems to know at the moment if they are cricketers or as Barry says, footballers, or even where the pictures were taken! Maybe those chaps are just about to get ready for the three-legged race, fun run or a paper chase, who knows? But I tell you what, I will try my best to find out where the pictures were taken!
Just had a quick thought on the pictures, could they have poosibly been taken on a field near Bowlacre Road, Gee Cross? Only a guess, and I will still keep thinking!
Barry in Oz, I have blown it up and there are even a couple of what looks like cross country runners in the mix as well. Could it be a celebration of local sports organisations or some such ? Did't tennis players also wear whites with long trousers and ties ?
In my opinion the trees on the skyline in the first photo definitely indicate it is on the Romiley side of the Low.
Could it be at Bredbury St Mark's cricket ground, which is still there?
Is it by any chance that cricket club on Hillside Road, off Pennine Road, only another rough guess! Or it could well be the other side of the Low as Mike and downsie say. Lets keep the ideas coming, we will get it right eventually between us!
Barry in Oz again, just had a look at the first photo and I see what appears to be a Boys Brigade uniform on a few young lads which would make it a Church type of do. Could it be a Church sports carnival of some kind ?
I did say yesterday it was perhaps a Sunday School outing, and I also mentioned the cricket club off Pennine Road, and the boy scout and lads brigade in the picture. I thought the cricket ground off Pennine Road was Woodley C.C., but I may be wrong. Also, the fellow in the middle of the two women appear to be holding a microphone to his mouth. All the women are dressed in their Sunday best, that is why I think it may be a Sunday Scool sports day held on a local cricket clubs ground.
Not sure if this helps, but in the background above the 3rd lady from the left, there seems to be a couple of houses... just above the small tree, where the two hedgerows meet under the skyline.. The chap who it has been mentioned with a microphone is more likely smoking a pipe, but to be honest with the picture is blown up it looks like that area of the man is damaged.
I seriously doubt that they had hand held microphones in the early 1900s or portable speakers. Woodley Cricket Club is off Pennine Rd (near my old home). Barry in Oz
Both Edison and Berliner filed patents applications for hand held micrphones in 1877. Moving coil loudspeakers were certainly being used before the First World War. Since the pictures cannot be dated with any certainty the microphome suggestion cannot be discounted. However, it still does not help to identify the locality where the picture was taken. The people lined up appear to be getting ready to take part in some sort of race,maybe a paper chase, perhaps behind the Hare and Hounds on Werneth Low. The tea hut could have been st up for such events.
Looking at the pavilion in the first picture the photo's obviously skewed, and if that's corrected the line of the hill at the top would be almost level. Now go into Google Earth and position the cursor on Stockport Road opposite what's shown as Tameside College at the entrance nearest to Hyde. If you now go into Street View, move the picture round and zoom in to the horizon to the right of the college building the line of the hill and hedgerow are virtually identical to that shown in our picture. The view from the cricket ground on Hillside Road (is it Greave Cricket Club?) would presumably be similar, but you can't get any kind of view from there on Google Earth.
My husband is from Bredbury and was a member of Bredbury St Mark's cricket club. He thinks it is their ground at the junction of Hillside Rd and Pennines Rd. he thinks the hut is the old hut where the scorer sat.
Thanks Marjorie, I'm pleased someone agrees with me. I'm pretty certain that the ground is Bredbury St Marks. It seems to be an old pavilion and looks very much like a cricket ground. Possibly it was simply being used for some other occasion.
But that prompts another question - WHAT?
I live on Pennine Road, and I'm fairly sure it's Bredbury St. Marks cricket ground. The sky-line looks familiar of the Low from this side.The ground and old pavilion are shown on the 1910 OS map. Looking at the club's website history reveals it was formed in 1913 by players and officials of the football club of the same name. This could account for the mixture of cricketers and footballers and church connection. One final clue is that the ground slopes the same now as in the old photos.
Thanks Kevin for your input.. it nice to see so many useful comments coming in on this picture.
Do you know what? The occasion could be something as simple as St Mark's Whit Friday sports day. The fete that so many churches and Sunday schools held after the morning Whit walks.
See the photos I've added today.
Here's another interesting view .
Well done anonymous (second comment) who said it might be the cricket club of Pennine Road. Rather looks like you were correct. I fact you appear to have been correct about the Sunday Schoolalso.
Excellent update Dave.. well done everyone.
Uncanny! Well done Dave on risking life and limb amongst those damned wheelie-bins to take the final photographic proof.
Bin there, done that!
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