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KING CROSS CC

The Ramsdens, Hopwood Lane, King Cross, Halifax HX1 4HA

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Altitude: 236 Metres/774 Feet

Halifax League

Volunteer Contacts:

Jamie Hothersall & Richard Pinder

 
  Club Image
 

Founded: 1878 as King Cross Wesleyans CC
Previous Ground: West View
Previous Name: King Cross Wesleyans CC
Nearest Railway Station: Halifax
By Bus: 546 from Halifax town centre
Nearest Other Club: Old Crossleyans CC

Club

Timeline (40kb PDF)

Early Years (1.8mb PDF)
Later Years (1.8mb PDF)

Centenary Brochure 1882-1982 (3.5mb PDF)

Halifax Courier Club History (2006) (99kb PDF)

Concise History of Club (10kb PDF)

History of Ground and Club - Extract from Home Soil (30kb PDF)


1890-1924 Financial Reports (4.1mb PDF)

1899-1959 Club Income (11kb PDF)
1928 Jubilee Bazaar (1.5mb PDF)

1936 Match Reports v Hull, Wakefield, Rotherham & Whitwood (308kb PDF)

1937 Match Reports v Sheffield, Elland, Halifax & Doncaster (256kb PDF)

1938 Match Reports v Barnsley & Castleford (289kb PDF)

1940 Match Reports v Salts, Illingworth, Thornhill & Parish Cup Final (86kb PDF)

1941 Match Reports v Halifax, Rawmarsh & Illingworth (137kb PDF)

1946 Match Reports v English Electric, Halifax, Illingworth, Sowerby Bridge (76kb PDF)

1947 Match Reports v Butterfield's & Wakefield (313kb PDF)

1948 Match Report v Leeds & Cartoon (77kb PDF)

1949 Fixture Card, Presentation Night, Jim Bain & Team Photo (1.4mb PDF)

1951 Match Report v York & Parish Cup Final (68kb PDF)

1951 (Jul) Ken Adams Cartoon Profiles (100kb PDF)

1952 Start of Season (26kb PDF)

1953 Parish Cup Final v Triangle (10kb PDF)

1953 Parish Cup Final Teams (63kb PDF)

1953 (1 Aug) Shield Final v Warley (137kb PDF)

1963 2nd XI Team Photo (76kb PDF)

1966 Team Photo (102kb PDF)

1984 (13 Aug) Double over Sowerby Bridge (128kb PDF)

1986 Newspaper Cuttings - Match Reports & Photos (373kb PDF)

1987 Maps & Fire Insurance Settlement (238kb PDF)

1987 Newspaper Cuttings - Match Reports & Photos (924kb PDF)

1987 (15 Jun) Promotion Push (94kb PDF)

1988 Newspaper Cuttings - Match Reports & Photos (1.3mb PDF)

1989 New Pavilion Plans (205kb PDF)

2000 Crossley Shield Winners (35kb PDF)

2005 Heritage Exhibition Launch Event (256kb PDF)

2006 Tea Room Price List (46kb PDF)

Club Badge (21kb PDF)

Club Shirt & Tracksuit Insignia (26kb PDF)

Parish Cup Final Medal - undated (69kb PDF)

LEAGUES: Central Yorkshire League, Halifax League (web link)

People

Who's Who (266kb PDF)

Memorials, Plaques & Dedications (68kb PDF)

Sabih Azhar

C.Bairstow   Club President in 1933 (41kb PDF)

Wilf Barber   1948-50 - Cricinfo

P.Butler   Top Batsman in 1978 (52kb PDF)

Jack Casson   Captain in 1902 (105kb PDF)

George Gunn   1947 - Cricinfo

Hilda & Charles Habergham   1995 Bench Dedication (86kb PDF)

Jamie Hothersall

Roger D.Jackson   Bench Dedication (26kb PDF)

Azmat Jalil   Cricinfo

Don Jowitt   Captain of 1940 Parish-Cup Winning Side (75kb PDF)

Councillor H.Pickles   Club President in 1947 (52kb PDF)

A.Pinder   Trophy Donor in 1933 (51kb PDF)

Kathleen Pinder   Bench Dedication (41kb PDF)

Richard Pinder

J.Ratcliffe   Club Secretary in 1947 (352kb PDF)

H.Rothery   Club President (48kb PDF)

Wilfred Senior   Club Secretary in 1933 (58kb PDF)

George Tyson   Club President in 1902 (105kb PDF)

Bert Wilcock   '107 Wickets in 1949' (52kb PDF)

Team Photos

1880s (66kb PDF)

1900s (85kb PDF)

1910s (129kb PDF)

1920s (161kb PDF)

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Undated

Ground

Story of The Ramsdens (360kb PDF)

2006 (16 Sep) The Ramsdens (1.9mb PDF)

2007 (11 Jun) King Cross v Old Town (web link)

Map of Ground (100kb PDF)
3D Map & Aerial Photograph (250kb PDF)
Watercolour by Tony Haigh

Wicket & Square (153kb PDF)

Tea Room (248kb PDF)

Covers (400kb PDF)

Scorebox (277kb PDF)

Turretted Wall (277kb PDF)

Gates (281kb PDF)

Signage (330kb PDF)

Oral History - Richard Pinder

Changes in Cricket (audio)
Family Involvement & Roles (audio)
History of the 'Duck House' (audio)
Overseas Players (audio)
Sponsorship & Attendance (audio)
Youth Team (audio)

Local Context

Profile of King Cross (74kb PDF)

King Cross Library (web link)

St.Paul's Church (web link)

King Cross WMC (web link)

Wainhouse Tower 1 (web link)

Wainhouse Tower 2 (web link)

Hopwood Lane Gateway (web link)

Cricket Heritage Trail: Urban Halifax - King & Queens (web link)

Former Cricket Clubs in Local Area (web link)

King Cross Liberal Club CC
King Cross Methodist New Connexion CC
King Cross Wesleyans CC - precursor of King Cross CC

Further Reading

Halifax Courier (King Cross News)

 

If you have any information about this club or any others in this area that could be of use please feel free to contact us via p.j.davies@hud.ac.uk.

 

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The Ground
  Archive Images

 

Greatest Moment

Winning the Parish Cup four times between 1896 and 1902.

Local Hero

Wilf Barber – Yorkshire and England batsman who signed up for King Cross in 1948.

Bizarre Fact

The pavilion at the club’s former ground at West View was nicknamed ‘Duck House’.

Urban and Distinctive

King Cross play at The Ramsdens, Upper Kingston in west Halifax. It is an urban venue with lots of character: located on the main road out of the town centre - Hopwood Lane - and distinctive mainly on account of the huge and rather handsome white turretted wall that stands behind the recently refurbished pavilion building.


Indeed, the 'whiteness' of the ground is a general feature. It's not just the turreted wall that is extremely white, but also the scoreboard, the low dry stone wall that runs round half the ground perimeter, and the brick structure that doubles as a sightscreen at the top end. It should also be noted that there are 23 benches dotted around the ground - 18 of which comprise a 'mini-stand' to the left of the pavilion.


Some cricket grounds are situated in the middle of nowhere, but this one is surrounded by rows and rows of Coronation Street-style streets. As Norman Ellis says, King Cross is noted for its 'high-density terraced housing'. Surrey Street and Essex Street lie nearby - a lovely coincidence that both are cricketing counties - and there's also an ornate-looking mosque just down the road.


The area of Halifax known as King Cross is famous for two things. During the English Civil War, when Halifax was a Royalist stronghold, King Cross was a key outpost because the Parliamentarians held parts of the Calder Valley. The area is also noted for its intersecting traffic. The road into Lancashire divides here, with one fork heading towards Burnley via Hebden Bridge and the other going to Littleborough via Sowerby Bridge. As Edward Riley states: 'For as long as anyone can remember, King Cross has been a busy junction.'


Cricket is just one arm of the King Cross Cricket, Bowling and Athletic Club. The organisation's website (www.kingcrosscbac.org) states: 'As well as the main sporting areas of Cricket, Bowls, Football and Hockey, we also have a team in the Halifax Pool League and also the Halifax Akroydon Games League where we participate in Cards, Dominos, Darts and Snooker. And you don't have to play sport to be welcomed at our club - we have 50+ social members who don't participate in any sporting activities but are amongst our most vociferous supporters.'


Inside, the pavilion is spacious and welcoming, and incorporates kitchen facilities, bar and games room (there's a full-size snooker table and pool table). Adjoining are the Home and Away dressing rooms. Wall plaques near the main door publicise the fact that the new pavilion was made possible by generous funding from the Lottery Sports Fund, Sports Council and Lord Taverners.


King Cross CC was founded in 1878 as a Sunday school team linked to King Cross Wesleyan School. The club played at Savile Park Moor until 1882, when they decided to rent a ground at West View; later, they moved to their present ground at Upper Kingston, courtesy of the Ramsden family after whom the ground is named. Since then, the key dates in the history of the club have been:

Monday 11th August 1902 - First match at The Ramsdens against local rivals Halifax CC.


1903 - Laying of lower bowling green


1906 - Club join Yorkshire Council


1908-9 - Original clubhouse built at cost of £400


1921 - Laying of top bowling green


1956 - For economic reasons, the club does not engage a professional and switches to the Halifax League


1961 - Leave Halifax League and join Central Yorkshire section of the Yorkshire Council


1985 - Club engages its first overseas professional, Azmat Jalil, an opening batsman from Rawalpindi, Pakistan (from where a number of subsequent overseas players have also hailed: Sabih Azhar, Mansoor Rana and Test player Shakil Ahmed)


1988 - New stone clubhouse built at cost of £55,000 to replace the original wooden one which had fallen victim to a fire (while the pavilion was out of order, the cricketers had to use the bowling-green changing facilities)


1996 - Shakil Ahmed takes 122 wickets and scores 700 runs

A special alcove in the bar area is devoted to King Cross nostalgia: assorted silverware from decades gone by and framed photos of famous elevens of yesteryear - including the triumphant 1921 side and the 1942 3rd XI that emerged victorious in the Halifax Red Triangle Cricket League.

Also on display is a 1964 letter from Sutcliffe Mitchell (Insurances) Ltd, detailing the club's policy cover for fire, burglary, house-breaking and 'storm and tempest' (a wonderful way to describe bad weather), and also a prized newspaper cutting from more recent times (the headline reads: CROSS ARE CUP KINGS AGAIN).

Club publicity states: 'One of the most successful periods in our history was during the 1930s and 1940s. During this time the club fielded three senior teams, with the 1st XI playing in the county's premier league and the other two teams playing in the local Halifax League as a 1st and 2nd XI. During these years King Cross remained largely an amateur side, although former Test players George Gunn and Wilf Barber played for the club in 1947 and 1948-50 respectively. In the post-war period one of the club's stars was Peter Rochford who kept wicket for Gloucestershire and subsequently joined the first-class umpires panel.'

Disclaimer - Designed and programmed by Lee Booth.

 
Heritage Lottry Fund University of Huddersfield