Ashbourne Ball Game
Ashbourne, Derbyshire
Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday

The Shrove Tuesday Ball Game at Ashbourne is one of the most famous ball games, though there are others which claim a longer history, such as the one at Atherstone in Warwickshire. The Ashbourne game takes place between the Up'ards and Down'ards and starts at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, when a specially prepared ball - slightly larger than a football and filled with cork - is thrown in by a visiting guest of honour. The goals are two mills some three miles apart, and the ball may be kicked, carried or thrown, but generally proceeds in a series of 'hugs' invisible to the spectator. Often the ball is fought for in the stream which runs through the pitch, and the game can last for many hours, finishing after dark.

It was first recorded in 1682, though thought to be much older, and various attempts were made to suppress it over the years. In 1891, it is said, the police attempted to prevent the game from
being started at all, but the ball was smuggled in under the skirts of a woman. It has continued unabated ever since, and by 1928 it had become so respectable that the then Prince of Wales was invited to start the game.

Other Shrove Tuesday games take place at Atherstone in Warwickshire (as mentioned above); Jedburgh, Roxburghshire; Sedgfield, Co Durham; also at Alnwick, Northumberland, where the ball is piped into the field of play by the Duke of Northumberland's piper. Other than at Shrovetide, there are ball games at Workington in Cumberland on Good Friday, Easter Tuesday and the following Saturday, and the Kirkwall Ba' Game, Orkney on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

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