Cock Fighting
Cock Fighting was a Penistone recreation before the twentieth century in Cockpit Lane, close to the church. The position of the pit is marked (dotted lines above) on a plan used for the sale of land by auction in December 1903. Dransfields solicitors must have used an old map as the basis of the auction plan.
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Click on the auction poster and look at the plan. The cock-pit was within lot 5, where it says "Right of Way - 18 feet wide" on the full picture.
There is nothing left to show for it now, of course, except the name.
Cockpit Lane is also visible on the old aerial view, left of picture, and has never stopped being an eighteen-foot-wide right of way to the rear of James Henry Wood's 'Don Press' printing works (lot 8) and other properties for more than a century.
Buildings Nearby
Prior to the purchase of the land, Woods printers was entirely housed in the small building which has a large green door on Church Hill. Before that, Woods resided in the cloth hall, now Clark's Chemists. JH Woods used to print Penistone Almanac.
The block marked as 'London City and Midland Banking Co.' is where Dransfields solicitors office continues to operate, these are the same solicitors referred to in the 'Particulars and Plan' of the auction, right.
Also in this area was the original location of the old schoolhouse before Penistone Grammar School's moved to its current Wierfield site in 1892. This explains why the row of houses was property of the 'Trustees of the Penistone Grammar School'. One of the row was used for many years as the telephone exchange. The building marked as 'The Misses Crossley' is where the HSBC bank is now, formerly the Midland Bank.
Pigeons
I don't have any information about this but am aware that there has been pigeon racing going on in Penistone since Methuselah was a lad. There are still pigeon lofts in the area and the pigeons are quite a sight when they circle around. That first picture below shows a proud moment at Penistone Pigeon Fanciers Club which might be in the
1960s. Its location is not certain although it has been suggested that it was in The Bridge pub.
Bowling Club
The second picture above is of bowling club members. I vaguely recall that the old Bowling Club was sited behind the Wentworth Arms on Sheffield Road and the picture appears to be taken from there. If I am right then this would now be on a plot called 'Wentworth Mews', where a block of houses was built in the nineties. The current Bowling Club now has a green and clubhouse sited on Back Lane near the Tesco. The club is still well supported and its grounds were extended as part of the Tesco development on the Showground.
Horse Racing in Penistone
How many local people know that Penistone used to have its own racecourse? Horse races were very popular on the 'Race Common' in Cubley and people would travel long distances to be there. That area is now mostly covered in houses. I understand that it covered an area near the recreation ground of Lyttleton Crescent and some fields around. This would have been in the nineteenth century, long before the houses arrived. The legacy of this activity now is the lane which would have approached it from the direction of Penistone, Racecommon Road.
