{"id":87293,"date":"2022-10-17T11:04:41","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T15:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=87293"},"modified":"2022-10-17T11:04:41","modified_gmt":"2022-10-17T15:04:41","slug":"the-game-of-knurr-and-spell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/the-game-of-knurr-and-spell.html","title":{"rendered":"The Game of Knurr and Spell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Jessica Edwards continues her series exploring the pastimes and toys our ancestors enjoyed when they were children, focusing on an English game using a ball and bat. Jessica has had a lifelong interest in her family\u2019s history \u2013 especially on her father\u2019s side, which goes back to the first settlers in Pennsylvania, Jamestown and New England \u2013 and has documented and added more than 27,000 people to her family tree!<\/em><\/p>\n

In examining children\u2019s pastimes and toys from 1700 to 1950, we\u2019re looking at a time when children worked more and had less free time than children today. By studying how they played, we can learn about an aspect of our ancestors\u2019 lives not often dealt with in genealogy, and help bring those names and dates on the family tree back to life.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: various balls. Credit: \u0d15\u0d3e\u0d15\u0d4d\u0d15\u0d30; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brief History of Balls<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most children\u2019s first interactive toy is a ball. Balls have come in many forms over the ages, and are some of the earliest known toys \u2013 although there is a dispute about when they came about.<\/p>\n

During recent excavations, three balls made of\u00a0leather\u00a0<\/a>were found in graves in northern China, whose diameters all measure between 2.5 to 3 inches. Using radiocarbon dating, researchers determined the balls were up to 3200 years old. The University of Zurich released a statement by researcher Patrick Wertmann that \u201cThis makes these balls about five centuries older than the previously known ancient balls and depictions of ball games in Eurasia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Russian leather balls, 12th-13th century. Credit: \u041b\u0430\u043f\u043e\u0442\u044c; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The oldest known balls ever found were made in\u00a0Egypt<\/a> and are about 4,500 years old. They were made out of tied bundles of linen.<\/p>\n

So, the two main early types of balls were those made of cloth (usually linen or canvas) or leather. (Another type of ball \u2013 that is disputed \u2013 was made from parts of animals, such as the stomach, that were cleaned and inflated, but I am not going to include them in this article.)<\/p>\n

Paintings from ancient Greece and elsewhere show that sticks were sometimes used in ball games (in competitions that resembled hockey or lacrosse).<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:<\/a>
Illustration: Yorkshiremen playing knurr and spell. Credit: George Walker\u2019s \u201cThe Costume of Yorkshire,\u201d first published in 1814; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Ball Game of Knurr and Spell<\/strong><\/p>\n

Knurr and Spell (also called \u201cNorthern Spell,\u201d \u201cNipsy,\u201d or \u201cTrap Ball\u201d):\u00a0Long before baseball became the official American pastime, a variety of ball and bat game was popular in England called Knurr and Spell. According to Wikipedia:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game originated in the moors of Yorkshire, in England, but then spread throughout the north of England. It can be traced back to the beginning of the 14th<\/sup> century. It was especially popular in the 18th<\/sup> and 19th<\/sup> centuries, but was virtually unknown by the 21st<\/sup> century.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The object of the game was to hit the hard golf-ball-sized ball (a \u201cknurr\u201d) with a stick or bat as far as possible. Usually, the field was marked with pins every 20 yards to make it easier to gauge how far a play had hit the knurr, much like a modern-day golf driving range.<\/p>\n

The knurr (from Middle English: knurre or knot, and refers to a hardwood or pottery ball, as could be made from a knot of wood, that is the approximate size of a walnut), was propelled vertically into the air by a mechanical device (a \u201cspell\u201d) made of wood that was tripped when a foot or club pressed a lever (later development of the game had a spell or trap furnished with a spring, thus ensuring regularity in the height to which the knurr was tossed). The player would then swing the bat and strike the knurr as hard as they could, driving it up high and far into the marked field.<\/p>\n

The object of the game was to hit the knurr the greatest possible distance, either in one or several hits. Each player competed as an individual, without interference, and any number could enter a competition. In matches each player supplied their own knurrs.<\/p>\n

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