Gosforth park races and a bit history of racing on the Town Moor THE Town Moor in Newcastle is rated as one of the great open spaces of urban Britain. It also happens to be one of Tyne and Wear’s sporting hotspots. The 960-acre moor features in Played in Tyne and Wear, a book which will be launched by English Heritage in Newcastle today which explores the social, cultural and architectural importance of sport in the area. The author of the book, Dr Lynn Pearson, who lives near the Town Moor, says: “The Town Moor has had many uses over the centuries, but might equally be described as the cradle of Newcastle sport.” A total of 29 different sports and recreations have been recorded on the moor since the 18th Century. Several have drawn huge crowds, including horse racing, rabbit coursing, potshare bowling and professional foot races. Known as “pedestrians”, the foot racers competed against the clock. In 1822 a 40,000 crowd turned up to see 56-year-old George Wilson walk 90 miles around a circuit on the moor in just under 24 hours. Horse racing took place on the moor from the 1720s, with the June Race Weeks attracting big crowds and all the attendant showmen and side events . The Race Weeks bash evolved into today’s Hoppings fair on the moor. In 1892 the Hoppings hosted a baseball contest with Wallsend becoming national baseball champions. The first permanent grandstand for horse racing was built on the moor in 1800, giving its name to the present Grandstand Road. It also served as a hotel. The races became even more popular after the introduction of the Northumberland Plate meeting in 1833, when the moor became a mass of tents and temporary wooden stands. In a Newcastle Races handbill of 1829, one of the named stewards is Charles John Brandling, whose Gosforth mansion, Brandling House, is now the headquarters for present day racing at High Gosforth Park. In 1848 a club called the Early Risers met on the moor to play sports before breakfast at a nearby inn. Potshare bowling was a miners’ favourite in which men competed to see who could hurl a small bowl the furthest along a roped off course, with betting on the outcome. The moor was also home to the 300ft Grandstand roller skating rink, while the Town Moor golf course opened in 1892. The golf club was based in the old chimney mill on Claremont Road, which was Britain’s first five-sailed smock mill. The journal
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 15:27:10 +0000