Westmorland Cricket League Grounds part 3

 By Mike Latham

John Glaister, the Westmorland Cricket League’s highly respected historian, kindly gave me the background to the clubs in the league for a feature I wrote in a recent Cumberland CCC yearbook. Having visited all the grounds in the league and taken photographs, I decided that the feature deserved updating and wider publicity. Here is part of 3 of 4.

Leven Valley: Founded 1882

Although the cricket field is idyllically situated in the Vale of Leven next to the river it could easily have been Christened 'Haverthwaite CC.' In the early days they tended to play with a group of similarly circumstanced clubs, namely Cartmel, Crake Valley (Greenodd), Grange and Holker. In 1929 they joined the Ulverston and District League (formed 1925) and were its last champions in 1939. In 1949 they joined the WCL and against all the odds won the 1972 Championship. Come 1987 they were in Division 5. Again, against all odds, they survive to this day.

Milnthorpe CC- founded 1863

The Park Road men revived their cricket club in 1921 but with nowhere to play. The old field had been taken as allotments during the Great War. Fortuitously the town secured a lease on the Town Meadow (ie. today's field) as a recreation ground from the Dallam Tower Estate so Milnthorpe CC have played there since 1921. Milnthorpe Corinthians (re-formed in 1927) share the facility, affiliated to the Westmorland FA and playing in the West Lancashire Football League.

Sedbergh School- school founded 1525, cricket club founded 1841

Sedbergh School Second XI will compete in Division One of the Westmorland League in the 2021 season with the Third XI in Division Two. The School has fantastic facilities and has developed a great reputation for producing top class cricket, hockey and rugby players as well as its academic record. In 2019 the School hosted Lancashire’s four-day championship game against Durham and has been a regular venue for Cumberland CCC games in the Minor Counties Championship.

A team from Sedbergh, unconnected to the School, previously competed in the Westmorland League, playing at a ground to the south-east of the town (pictured above), but folded soon after playing in Division 3 of the League in 2015. Westmorland League cricket returned to the town when Sedbergh School 3^rd XI joined in 2019.

The former Sussex and Durham cricketer Martin Speight is Director of Cricket at Sedbergh School while current first-class cricketers Harry Brook and Jordan Clark feature among the distinguished list of old boys, including Norman ‘Mandy’ Mitchell-Innes, who played one Test for England in 1935. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Sedbergh became part of the new county of Cumbria after the boundary changes of 1974. School cricket was inaugurated here in 1841 and the current main ground was completed in 1885 thanks to the largesse of William Wakefield of Sedgwick House (see below).

Sedgwick CC- founded 1869

Westmorland cricket has much to thank the famous Wakefield family of Sedgwick House, Sedgwick which was completed in 1869, very near to their old house. The builder was William Henry Wakefield who had three fanatical cricketing sons, John, Jacob and William Harry (junior). In 1874 he laid out a new ground for country house cricket in front of the house. It became a nationally known venue and despite ups and downs is where Sedgwick CC play today. The pavilion, with its famous honours board, may be listed.

Shireshead & Forton CC- founded 1909

When the club moved to the School Lane ground in Forton in 1968 it was their sixth field. They came to Westmorland cricket from the Lancaster & District League in 1976. Clifton Park is protected from any other future development other than that as a cricket field as it enjoys Queen Elizabeth II Protected Playing Field Status. This ensures that cricket is safeguarded at this scenic venue, just off the A6 south of J33 of the M6 between Preston and Lancaster. The club website has an excellent historical section and reveals that cricket in the region can be traced back to the 1850s.