Sport
Broomhead Hall, Penistone, Yorkshire, detail, Country Life, Sept. 10th 1904. Demolished in the 1970s, although the outbuildings remain and it is my understanding that the celebrated Broomhead Moor remains to this day a popular destination for grouse and pheasant shooting.
Of the 100 Best Shots of all time, Mr Reginald Henry Rimington-Wilson took part in a record-breaking day on Broomhead Moor on 24 August 1904, with eight other guns, taking 2,743 grouse, then struck again on the same moor in 1913 with the great Edwardian shots Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey and Major Acland-Hood, bagging 2,843.
So you see, not everything changes. Buildings come and go of course, but desires remain. The urge to play at games and sports, the desire to compete, to hunt, to love, to protect, to defend, to prove a point, to kill one another or the creatures around us, surely these pursuits are eternal across time, wouldn't you say?
Some of it just happens to look different, depending on the circumstances. For instance, where you are: a grouse moor in Yorkshire, or a college campus in Ohio. Or what you're carrying: a rifle for deer hunting season, or a loaded handgun for your local town hall meeting.
Don't grouse have wings? How can they all hang around while so many of their companions are killed? Do they think, like, "Well, they've killed 2,742 of us, so they've gotta stop pretty soon"?
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My grandfather "Charlie" Ward was the head gamekeeper at the Hall when these records were established and I still have the silver cups he was presented with by R.H.R. Rimington-Wilson to mark the occasions-I also have a copy of "Country Life" which your photo was taken. I myself was born in Stocksbridge and remebered the Hall-which was given over to the military during the war and wrecked by them. It was later taken down stone by stone and sold to the U.S.A ! Such a shame it was a beautifull building in a magnificent setting.
Phil Ward
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