SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



Sunderland. On that long and narrow stretch 

 of land on which the course is laid out are 

 eighteen holes providing a round with a total length 

 of about three miles. The links, which arc for 

 the most part on clay soil giving heavy grassy 

 lies, are diversified by broken ground which, 

 with some hedges and artificial bunkers, serve as 

 hazards. 



There are seven inland courses in the county, 

 of which the oldest is that at Pinker Knowle, 

 about two miles south of the cathedral city. 



The Durham Golf Club, founded in 1887 on 

 the initiative of Mr. Thomas Milrain, Captain 

 Roberts, the late Sir Hedworth Williamson, and 

 Dr. E. S. Robson, played here at first over a 

 short course of six holes. Three new holes were 

 added in 1894, whereby the course became 

 2,200 yards in length. The links are on 

 undulating pasture land with a sandy soil, and 

 accurate driving and careful iron-play are 

 essential to success, since rough grass and whins 

 border the course ; and roads, a railway cutting, 

 and a deep ravine that has to be crossed twice, 

 are dire traps for the careless player. The par 

 score is 39 for the 9 holes ; and the amateur 

 record made by Dr. T. E. Hill is 79 for a 

 double round. The going is good all the year 

 round possibly best in the autumn. The ideal 

 golfer is, we know, impervious to the charms of 

 scenery ; but the glorious views of the city and 

 the beautiful country about it which arc to be 

 had from most of the tees may well excuse him 

 if he allows his eye to wander now and again 

 from the ball. 



In the early nineties golf had taken so firm a 

 hold on the affections of Durham folk that five 

 more clubs were established in quick succession. 

 That at Sunderland has been already mentioned. 

 The year 1 892 saw the foundation of the Barnard 

 Castle Golf Club, which has a good course of nine 

 holes at Wyse Hill near Startforth in Teesdale. 

 The chief hazards here are fences and gorse ; and 



the course enjoys the unusual advantage that 

 summer play is the best. 



In 1893, the year in which the South Shields 

 Club was founded, a very sporting course of nine 

 holes was opened two miles from Shotley Bridge, 

 a charmingly situated little watering-place which 

 lies embowered in the beautiful woodland country 

 on the banks of the Derwent between Newcastle 

 and Bishop Auckland. The links are on high 

 land, 700 feet above sea-level, with natural 

 hazards of quarries, whins, roads and hedges. 



Yet another nine-hole course is that of the 

 Bishop Auckland Golf Club, founded in 1894, 

 at High Plains, on the outskirts of Auckland 

 Park. 



At High Coniscliffe, overlooking the valley 

 of the Tees between Darlington and Barnard 

 Castle, is the course of the Darlington Golf Club. 

 Founded in 1896 as the High Coniscliffe Club by 

 Mr. (now Sir) James B. Dale, Mr. E. Hutchin- 

 son and the late Mr. E. E. Meek, this club was 

 renamed on entering upon its new course of eigh- 

 teen holes in 1906. The links are on reclaimed 

 moorland with heavy pasture and a clay sub- 

 soil ; but the course gives promise of affording 

 capital golf when it has emerged from the ex- 

 perimental stage, and has had more play. The 

 hazards are stone walls, fences and a brook, with 

 a few artificial bunkers of turf and sand. Spring 

 and autumn are the best seasons of the year for 

 play. 



The Tees-side Golf Club, founded in 1900 by 

 Dr. Randolf Smith and Mr. W. Ridley Make- 

 peace of Stockton-on-Tees, has a nine-hole course 

 at Mandate Bottoms near Thornaby, about mid- 

 way between Stockton and Middlesbrough. The 

 links are on pasture land on a peat soil, and the 

 hazards are becks and made bunkers. Play is 

 possible all the year round ; but spring is perhaps 

 the best season. The principal club prizes are the 

 William Warner Memorial Trophy and the 

 Crosthwaite Cup. 



FOOTBALL 



In recent years Durham football has come 

 very prominently before the public by reason of 

 the county's frequent successes in the County 

 Championship. But years before the champion- 

 ship was instituted county football in Durham was 

 on a firm footing. So far back as 1873 the 

 county team met and defeated Yorkshire at Dar- 

 lington, and the fixture has been continued ever 

 since. In the first three matches between the two 

 Durham was successful, which speaks well for 

 the proficiency of the players of that day in the 

 smaller county. It was not until 22 March 

 1875 that Yorkshire gained their first victory at 

 the Holbeck Recreation Ground at Leeds by two 

 goals to one. In 1877 it was deemed advisable 



to form the Durham Union on a constitutional 

 basis. Mr. A. Laing of Sunderland was elected 

 the first president, and other leading spirits in the 

 movement were Dr. Sanday, principal of Hatfield 

 Hall, J. H. Kidson, J. H. Brooks, and P. B. 

 Junor. For many years subsequent to this the 

 large increase of clubs in Yorkshire and the 

 great strides the game made in that county led 

 to a long sequence of Yorkshire successes in the 

 annual tourney, though Durham always gave 

 their opponents a good game. Northumberland 

 was added to the county fixtures in the season of 

 1878-9. Since the decline of Yorkshire foot- 

 ball Durham has assumed the chief position in 

 the north. The team's first victory in the County 



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