Knurr and Spell
To celebrate Yorkshire day we wanted to discuss the most Yorkshire sport of knurr and spell. According to the New International Encyclopaedia published in 1905, knurr and spell originated on the Yorkshire Moors but was popular all over the north of England – indeed, in some areas of the country it’s known as Northern Spell. Some sources date the origins of the game to the 1700s, others even earlier.
We do know for sure that it thrived during the 1920s and 1930s and experienced a revival in the 1970s. In Leeds we have records of it being played on Woodhouse Moor and Hunslet Moor.
So what is it?
Knurr and spell could perhaps be referred to as the English cousin of golf. Players load the knurr, or ball, onto a spring-loaded trap (the spell) which launches the knurr into the air for the players to hit with a club. The player who hits the knurr the farthest, wins. In our collection in the Discovery Centre you can see examples of knurrs, spells and bats dating from the 1800s.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a truly Yorkshire tradition without a Lancashire rival. The Lancashire version of knurr and spell uses a pin rather than a spell so the knurr is held stationary rather than flung up into the air. Arguably this makes the knurr easier to hit but provides less momentum for long distance hits.
The Yorkshire version itself is not all that consistent either, both in style and name. The game’s other names include nipsey and tipping, and slight variations to the set-up and rules could be found across the North.
A sport of the people
Ever since its origin knurr and spell has been a sport enjoyed by the working class, partially due to the homemade nature of the equipment. The sport was never quite mainstream enough for equipment to be bought from a shop so all players made their own equipment by hand.
In fact the word knurr comes from the Middle English knurre meaning knot in wood, as that’s what the first balls were. Often the bats were whittled branches from trees which made the sport cheaper and more accessible to those with less income – provided they had the time and skills to create equipment.
The most dangerous game
Far from its landscaped appearance today, in the 1800s Woodhouse Moor was an untamed stretch of common land. In 1857 it became Leeds’ first municipal park and was a popular venue for people to play knurr and spell. Not everyone was pleased about this, however. On the 13th August 1859 the Leeds Intelligencer reported that Leeds City Council had received a request to take action to prevent further injuries following a man being struck on the head by an errant knurr whilst walking on Woodhouse Moor. As a result the Council more strictly enforced their order that all knurr and spell players stay on the lower end of the moor. This doesn’t seem to have been entirely effective at preventing injury however, as the Leeds Mercury printed a complaint from an inhabitant from Headingley on 11th October 1859 following his horse being struck by a knurr as he rode across the moor.
The final whistle
Although knurr and spell has trailed off in the 21st century, it remains an important local cultural legacy that demonstrates the enterprising spirit and creativity of t’north.
If you’d like to see knurr and spell in action you can watch this film of the game being played in Cowling in the 1960s created by Bingley-born Eric Hall. OWER BIT BOG OIL | Yorkshire Film Archive (yfanefa.com). Copyright held by Eric Hall’s daughter, Susan Hall, film preserved in the vaults of the Yorkshire and North East Film Archive.