Lascelles Hall CC Sponsorship

The cricket club at Lascelles Hall, originally a very small village just outside Huddersfield, was founded in 1825 which makes it one of the oldest clubs in the county of Yorkshire.
The club has a remarkable history, particularly from those early days up to the end of the nineteenth century when it provided a long list of players for the Yorkshire county team.
The village side, having already beaten an All England XI in 1867, took on the might of Yorkshire and beat them by 146 runs in a two-innings game in 1873.
They also had no trouble in beating Sheffield, then considered to be the strongest side in the county, as well as a Surrey XI. So it is not surprising that Lascelles Hall is regarded as the cradle of Yorkshire cricket, standing alongside the achievements of Hambledon (from an earlier time) in the south of
England. Much has been written about the reasons behind such cricketing success from so small a community and it seems to be generally agreed that the textile industry’s early days, involving handloom weaving before the introduction of machines, had much to do with it.

This was a cottage industry, involving children as well as adults, who could plan their working schedule to fit in with time for cricket when the weather was good. In addition, the practice of throwing the shuttle from hand to hand across the room helped the co-ordination of hand and eye.
It is thought that the invention of the power loom was much to blame for the loss of the village’s success around the turn of the century.