Greatest Moment

1972 - winning the Sykes Cup for the first time after a 32-year wait.

Local Hero

Andy Booth - Huddersfield Town legend and club president.

Bizarre Fact

Derek Stow took all 10 wickets in an innings during the 1966 season.

By Castle Hill

Hall Bower's ground can be spotted just a few fields down from Castle Hill as you look upwards from anywhere in the near vicinity of Huddersfield. It is a splendid, spectacular location, a fantastic place to play and watch local league cricket, and is only yards away from the local watering hole - the Victoria Hotel.

From afar, and when cricket is not being played at Hall Bower, the field just looks like yet another piece of neatly-mown farmland, surrounded by tracks, dry stone walls, overgrown moors and bushes sprouting purple-coloured flowers.

But when you draw up close, you realise that this particular field boasts a pavilion, a scorebox, and several garage-style buildings. Yes, this is a cricket ground - and a high-quality one at that.

Isolated Setting

What differentiates Hall Bower from other venues is its setting - the backdrop of Castle Hill is very special - but also its sense of isolation.

Granted, there are a couple of rows of semi-detached houses nearby, a set of farm buildings, and a stand-alone Sunday School (once upon a time this was all the rage, and unaffiliated Sunday Schools started emerging everywhere), but when you are sat on one of the many benches surrounding the playing area, you are struck by the quietness and tranquility of the place - it is calm and serene, even when the bowlers or the batters are in aggressive mode.

The playing area has a professional feel about it. There are no sightscreens, but at both ends of the ground the dry stone walls are whitewashed. If it wasn't for Castle Hill looking down on you, you might actually feel that you were on a plateau at Hall Bower. It is an exposed location - which is great news when the sun is shining, but in mid-April and early-September it probably gets very cold and windy (and that's probably why so many kite-flyers head to Castle Hill to pursue their hobby).

Exceptional Views

Because of its location, the views from the ground are exceptional. On one side, you can see right through the Pennine valleys and over to Saddleworth and Manchester; on the other, you can almost make out Leeds and towns beyond. When club publicity says that 'delightful country air' is one of the 'six best reasons' to visit Hall Bower Lane, no lie is bring told. The panoramas from on high are simply breathtaking.
Hall Bower C.C. was founded in 1876.

In its infancy it had a variety of homes:

1877 - Castle Hill (it was here that the club played its first fixture).

1878 - A field opposite Hall Bower Sunday School.

1881 - New Laithe Hill.

1884 - The club moved into its current premises.

In 1913 the club was a founder member of the Huddersfield Central League; in the 1930s it won a pile of trophies (including the Central League in 1934, 1935 and 1936 - a rare hat-trick); and in 1940 it switched to the Huddersfield & District League (earning the moniker 'Babes of the League'). It has remained there ever since.

Paving Stones and Seating

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s the club made 'various alterations' to its premises - extending the tea room, erecting boundary walls and putting down paving stones and new seating. In 1970 it put up a prefabricated building to act as pavilion (and a set of showers came with it).

Hall Bower's HQ has captivated many an observer. In 1951 a local writer called it a 'delightful spot' and went on: 'Few clubs possess a ground with such a panoramic view and towering majestically above it is the Jubilee Tower which, in itself, is a historic landmark.' And the people who run the cricket club are proud of what they offer. In the 1969 League handbook they inserted a special message: 'Come to "The Bower" - enjoy a good game, delightful air and tea served with a smile at all matches.'

And a point of trivia: as recently as 17 years ago, Hall Bower could field two teams completely made up of fathers and sons, including Ian and Andy Booth.

Fourteenth-Century Name

Wedged between Newsome and Almondbury, Hall Bower is more a hamlet than a village. It is built on a bed of sandstone, and over the centuries it has been home to weavers, clothiers and other craftsmen.

According to experts, the population of Hall Bower in the nineteenth century was around 150 - and most of these people were called either 'Liversedge', 'Bradley', 'Dransfield' or 'Beaumont' (in fact, the Beaumonts made their name as tenants on the local estate). It is estimated that the population of the hamlet doubled in the first half of the twentieth century.

The consensus is that Hall Bower - 'the dwelling attached to the hall' - is a fourteenth-century place name. But there is much confusion, and mystery, about the 'Hall' in 'Hall Bower'. Was it 'Newsome Halle' or 'Haule Bowre'? No-one seems to know, but we do know that in 1471 a saga known as the 'Hall Bower Murders' rocked the area, and that whatever 'Hall Bower' was, it had been demolished by the end of the nineteenth century.

On 29 August 1940 the first bombs dropped on Huddersfield landed in Hall Bower; and The Hall Bower Book of Memories, published in 2000, is a key source for anyone wishing to discover more about the history of the hamlet.

Today, in the twenty-first century, Hall Bower is still a small district, but it does boast one of the architectural wonders of Yorkshire. 'Round House' is, as the name suggests, a round house, perfectly round in fact. Built by a progressive young architect, it has won an array of plaudits and architectural awards.