DIRECTIONS TO BARDSEY TENNIS CLUB

From the South (Leeds):

Bardsey is the village after Scarcroft on the A58.  Half a mile after you pass the last Scarcroft sign you will come across 2 left hand turns.  The first is a cul-de-sac, the second is Church Lane which is the road you should take.

Woodacre Lane is approximately 250 metres along Church Lane and is the second road on the right (the road is directly opposite the Church).

The tennis club car park (which is shared with the village hall) is 100 metres up on the left.

From the North (Wetherby):

Bardsey is the village after Collingham on the A58.  As you enter Bardsey go past the first right hand turn after the small parade of shops on your right.  Then ignore the cul-de-sac 100 metres further on on the right.  The next turning on the right is Church Lane which is the road you should take.  Then follow directions above.

For sat nav purposes use the vicarage postcode of  LS17 9DG

The Roman officers helmet was chosen as the tennis club logo because of the associations with the game and the Bardsey area.

Tennis as a game originated in Roman times and often a court (Sphaeristerium) was attached to a villa.  When the modern game originated in 1874 it was called sphairistike before becoming lawn tennis.

In Roman times important roads running west to east between Ilkley (Olicana) and Tadcaster (Calcaria) to York (Eboracum) passed close to Bardsey.  Some early maps of the area indicate a Roman road called Ryknield Street running north through Bardsey at Pompocali - the supposed Roman Fort in Hetchell Woods.  A stone alter to Apollo and a part of a Roman quern have also been discovered near Hetchell pointing to a likelihood of a local settlement.  There was a large Roman villa at Dalton Parlours.  A less substantiated claim is that grooves in the stones at the side of Rigton Bank were made by the wheels of Roman Chariots!

Bardsey would have formed part of a larger area known as Elmet which was one of the last surviving Roman-British areas holding out until around 600AD.  During this great period of civilisation the two Roman legions protecting the area were the IX and later the VI.  By chance the two numbers add up to the first point score in tennis.

May 1986

Malcolm W Lobley

THE CLUB LOGO

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