Robin Longbottom on how a now largely-forgotten sport was once hugely popular

IN the early 1960s there was a short craze amongst lads who lived in Low Fold, Sutton-in-Craven, for throwing arrows.

The arrows were about two feet long and made from split lengths of old floorboard, and whittled smooth with a penknife. A flight, like that of a dart, made from a piece of card was fitted to one end.

The arrow was thrown using a piece of string about three feet long. The string was wrapped around one hand and a knot tied in the other end. The knotted end was then looped around the flight end of the arrow and the string held in place over the knot. The thrower then stretched the string along the length of the arrow, held the tip between the thumb and forefinger and then threw the arrow into the air, powering it up with the string.

A large field was needed, and the lads played in a meadow called Long Croft where they were often able to achieve throws exceeding 100 yards. The object was to see who could throw the arrow the furthest. A grandfather of one of the lads had made the first arrows and shown them how to play.

The Encyclopaedia of Sport published in 1900 includes arrow throwing under the section for Manly Sports. The origins remain obscure, but it became popular in the West Riding of Yorkshire in the mid-19th century and from the 1860s matches were regularly reported in local newspapers.

Match arrows did not have flights attached, they were 32 inches long and usually made of hazel sticks. The bark was stripped off and the stick was rubbed down to a gradual taper, like a small snooker cue. The thrower, having attached the string, took a run of about eight yards before releasing it into the air.

Matches were extremely competitive, with prize money of up to £50. A match held on Saturday, March 1, 1873, at Manywells Heights, near Denholme, had prize money of £40 – almost a year's wages for a labourer of the period. The contestants were Edward Farrar, a Keighley blacksmith, and Isaac Ogden, formerly of Keighley but then a weaving overlooker in Wibsey, Bradford. The player who achieved the best throw out of 50 won the money.

Although throwing the arrow the furthest distance was popular, many contests took the form of a ‘scores match’. For these matches the ground was set out with wooden pegs, each one placed at intervals of 20 yards (a score) in the direction of play. Matches were played between two contestants and the number of throws was usually 30. The contestants threw their arrows five times alternately and the distance of each throw was recorded by the number of pegs the arrow had travelled beyond – if it travelled beyond the tenth peg but not the eleventh, the score was ten. At the end of the contest all the scores were added together, and the winner was the player with the greatest aggregate score.

At its height, championship matches attracted crowds of up to 5,000. During the last quarter of the 19th century, Dick Holt, of Birkenshaw in Bradford, was a noted champion. In a match against Seth Rouse at Halifax in 1887 he threw an arrow an incredible 372 yards 12 feet and 6 inches. In 1909 Charlie Firth, a quarry worker from Oakenshaw, came close to equalling it when he threw 372 yards 2 feet 6 inches. Charlie was one of the last of the champion arrow throwers and like many of his contemporaries lost his life during the Great War.

Although attempts were made to revive the sport after the war ended it never regained its former popularity and today is largely forgotten.