By Mike Latham
Anyone who has followed league cricket over a long period of
time will occasionally reflect upon teams they’ve watched that are now defunct,
grounds they’ve visited as player, official or spectator that are now disused
or built over, even leagues they once enjoyed watching that are no more.
That came home to me the other day when I happened across
the splendid Lancashire Cricket Annual for 1972, then in its 22nd
year and edited and published by Albert E Hall.
Lancashire Cricket Annual 1972
Contained within 240 pages of tightly packed print are
fixtures for the season ahead and a review of the 1971 season, league by
league, with a directory of participating clubs.
The Chorley & District League section caught my eye, as
it is an area where I live and some of my cricket-watching friends that I meet
on the boundary of local grounds talk fondly of games played and watched in the
league.
Founded in 1902 the league was dissolved in 2005, many of
the clubs joining the Palace Shield competition, which is a very well-run and
impressive organisation that caters for cricketers of all abilities and ages.
Back in the 1971 season, 50 years ago, the Chorley &
District League had 14 member clubs and I examined what had become of them.
Of those 14 clubs, three had become defunct, two had merged
and nine were still in operation in their own name, three in the Ribblesdale
League, the others in the Palace Shield.
In 1971 Salesbury were Division One champions with
Walton-le-Dale runners up while Hoghton beat Leyland Motors in the Challenge
Cup.
Salesbury CC
Salesbury (founded 1904) now play in the Ribblesdale League,
their beautiful village ground enjoying sweeping views over the Ribble Valley.
Brinscall (1890), a progressive club with a thriving junior section, and
Feniscowles (1920), a village near Blackburn next door to rivals Cherry Tree,
have also stepped up to the Ribblesdale League Senior Division in recent years
and become competitive and valued members.
Hoghton CC
Whittle-le-Woods CC
Withnell Fold CC
The clubs now in the Palace Shield are Hoghton (1890),
playing on the recreation ground close to Hoghton Tower, New Longton (1920),
Walton-le-Dale (1875), White Coppice (1921), Whittle-le-Woods (1900) and
Withnell Fold (1904).
White Coppice CC
Of those, White Coppice is a particularly iconic village
ground with its whitewashed cottages forming the sightscreen at one end and a
visit here comes highly recommended.
But all are well appointed grounds that I have visited
recently where the heartbeat of cricket still beats strongly.
Of the remaining five clubs that participated in that season
there are different stories to tell.
Chorley St James ground
Chorley St James (1919), playing at Limbrick on the back
road between Adlington and Chorley, merged with Charnock Richard during the
2016-17 winter and the combined club plays at the latter’s ground. Fortunately,
the St James ground is still used for cricket, used by Chorley CC for their
third eleven fixtures and other games when their main ground is occupied with
more senior teams.
Leyland Motors (1847), whose third team competed in the
Chorley & District League, merged with the Leyland & Farington club in
February 1907 and sadly lost their main ground at Sandy Lane. The third eleven
played at Mayfield, which is still used by the Leyland club for third and
fourth team games.
The other three teams were Moss, Roe Lee Mills and Withnell.
Moss, founded in 1949, was a works team playing at the
Thomas Moss Sports Ground, Coote Lane, Tardy Gate, Lostock Hall near Preston.
Map showing the location of Roe Lee Mills cricket ground
Roe Lee Mills (1945) was a cricket ground behind the Roe Lee
Mills, situated off Whalley New Road out of Blackburn.
Map showing the location of Withnell CC in 1909
Withnell (1901) had their ground just off the main street
that runs through Abbey Village. I’ve visited the village many times as the
starting point for walks around the Roddlesworth Reservoirs. I had no idea that
a cricket club had played here and, looking at Google maps, the site of the old
ground is still clearly defined and has not been built upon. That’s marked down
for a visit over the next few weeks, and I will report back.
If anyone has any memories of playing in or watching the
Chorley & District League, I would be delighted to hear from them.
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