'Poor man's golf' game revived for Yorkshire Day

An old miners' game known by some as "poor man's golf" has been revived to celebrate Yorkshire Day.

The 2026 Knurr and Spell competition takes place at Thurgoland cricket ground near Barnsley on 1 August from 13:00 BST.

Historian Boz Davison said he and other Knurr and Spell enthusiasts decided to restart the tradition for the annual Yorkshire Day, and the first competition was held in 2024.

He said: "It's fun - but it's harder than it looks."

Also known as "piggy", "Northern Spell" or "nipsy" in Barnsley, Knurr and Spell is a mix of golf and cricket played without expensive equipment.

It was a popular pastime in northern working-class communities and Davison, who also runs Handsworth Museum, is one of those trying to bring it back.

Competitors launch a small ball called a knurr or potty into the air and hit it with a home-made stick to see who can send it furthest across an open field, he said.

The game was originally watched on moorland and open fields by large crowds in Yorkshire and Lancashire in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and other versions across the north used different names and equipment with the same aim.

Big prize money could be won - amounts which were "life-changing for working- class men", and local pubs and bookmakers were "the other big winners", Davison said in his booklet "Knurr and Spell in South Yorkshire".

However it fell out of favour, perhaps because it was "very elitist" - meaning it was played only within small localised groups of people - through the 1960s and 70s.

"A few makers would sell sticks and pummel heads, but only to players from their area," Davison said.

WATCH: Knur and Spel in 1972 on BBC Nationwide (via You Tube)

Another reason Knell and Spurr gradually died out may have been because making the home-made equipment was a "real art".

Davison said the equipment is now very hard to source with sticks taking weeks to make from wood in a press.

The Thurgoland Knurr and Spell Society - which now has its own Facebook page - allows competitors to use hockey or hurling sticks, whittled-down pickaxe handles or cricket bats.

"It's quite different from the traditional game, but until a good way of making the stick and pummel heads can be found, this is the only way to play the game."

The Yorkshire Day revival games were started by original champions Nigel Flowers, Tommy Chambers and Wortley Working Men's Club along with Davison.

He said that although he has no family history in the game, he became interested when he started with Handsworth Sword Dancers in 2006 and "one tradition led to another".

On Saturday, the arena in Thurgoland opened at 13:00 BST for people to warm up before hits were measured and umpired from 14:00 BST.

The men's price and best potty knock of the day was won by Tom Marshall, who reached 108 yards - beating the old record of 100 yards, set last Christmas.

In the women's competition, Tom's wife Rachel Marshall also set a new record of 98 yards, while in the over 65s category Andrew Ockerby reached 96 yards.

The Yorkshire Day prize was "the honour of winning", said Davison.

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