OVER the next few weeks in Yester Years, we will be taking a look at the remarkable link between cricket and society in Warrington.

Dave Eccles, a cricket enthusiast, has looked into the archives to show how the town was at the growth in popularity of the sport.

He takes us back to the early days of the sport in the town in the 1800s.

“Its development and growth reflects the growing divisions in society during this period, as manufacturing flourished.

“In the early days a cricket club in Warrington was formed in 1837.

“The uniform of white flannels, double breasted Eton jackets, adorned with lots of buttons, and a reversible leather belt, with a blue and a red side, to indicate the team the player was representing. This indicates a certain status was required to be able to take part, as working classes could certainly not afford items like this.

“The first ground was located to the south of Sankey Street across from the Town Hall, in Winmarleigh Street.

“Bowling was underarm, and no protective pads were worn. This club did not survive long, and faded away after several years.

“The school boys of the town continued to play however, initially in a field opposite the Grammar school, then located close to the Parish Church, and a few years later in another field in Froghall Lane next to the new railway line.

“It wasn’t until 1852 that a new club was formed. The pupils from the early grammar and public schools had now come of age and were back home.

“As with other sports, cricket gained a life of its own, promoted and supported by the newly rich entrepreneurs, and industrialists. The first reported match was played on May 1, 1853, a May Day holiday, on a field adjoining St Elphin’s Rectory, and organised by the Rector Horatio (Horace) Powys, who was to become a regular in the Warrington team.

The Rector was described as: “A man of powerful make, and a ‘smiter’ – when he did hit a ball is was generally for four, but as he was not in training and stoutly built his ‘puff’ was not equal to his strength, and he was not seldom run out.”

He was made the Bishop of Sodor and Man in 1854. Educated at Harrow and at St. John’s College, Cambridge. He founded an Educational Training College in Chester and an institution for the education of the daughters of the clergy in Warrington. He died in Bournemouth but is buried in Warrington.

Cricket at Bank Hall

No less than Colonel Wilson-Patten himself (later to become Lord Winmarleigh in 1874), the owner and resident of Bank House and its grounds (now the Town Hall and Bank Park), became a club benefactor. He gave permission for the new club to use land at the rear of Bank House, close to where the large beech trees in Bank Park now stand.

As a thrifty man, the future Lord Winmarleigh duly charged £16:0:0 per annum in 1869, rising gradually to the princely sum of £30 19s 2d in 1898, then charged by the Council.

This was because in 1870 John Wilson-Patten, sold the Bank Hall to Warrington Borough Council for £9000 (equivalent to £790,000 in 2016),[and 13 acres (5.3 ha) of surrounding land for a further £15,000 (equivalent to £1,320,000 in 2016). Almost all of the land was opened as Warrington’s first public park in 1873.

In December of 1872 the writing was on the wall for the Cricket Club. A new street planned by the Council would spoil the ground. Compensation of £200 was requested to lay down a new pitch and move the pavilion. In March 1873 the Council offered a year free of rent, if the Club gave up possession at the end of the year. This was not initially accepted by Club members. In September 1873 the club was refused any compensation, permission to remove the turf, and the request another year free of rent to get a new ground ready, by the Council. In October 1873 Warrington Football Club was given permission to use the cricket field for the 1873-74 season.

Hence one of the ‘best grounds in Lancashire, as reported in the Warrington Guardian in 1873, and which had entertained an All England Xl that same season, became a soccer field and later a park. The last match played at Bank Hall was against Sale, which Warrington won, handsomely, by 103 runs to 13.

However a new ground needed to be made ready for the next summer season in 1874. Where was it to be, could it be funded, and could it be made ready in time?