Tynedale Open

Tynedale Open
Defunct tennis tournament
Founded	1881;144 years ago (1881)
Abolished	1931;94 years ago (1931)
Location	Hexham, Northumberland, England
Venue	Priors Flat Grounds
Surface	Grass

The Tynedale Open ^[1] was a grass court tennis tournament founded in 1881 as the Hexham Tournament and first staged at Priors Flat Grounds, Hexham, Northumberland, England.

History

The Hexham Tournament was a late 19th century tennis event first staged around August 1881 at Priors Flat Cricket Grounds, Hexham, Northumberland, England. ^[2] The first winner of the men's singles was England's Jasper Gibson. ^[3] The first tournament was staged until 1885. In 1888 the Tynedale Lawn Tennis Club, ^[4] and Tynedale Cricket Club were founded and staged events on the land leased by the Tyndale Athletic Association. In 1890 a second Hexham tournament was revived as the Tynedale Open Tournament (allowing women's competitions) that was organised by the Tynedale Lawn Tennis Club. This event ran until 1931 before it was discontinued.

Location and Venue

Hexham is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administrative centre for the Tynedale district.

Tennis first appeared in Hexham in the early 1880s when a cement court was built in the Hexham Abbey grounds. ^[5] Tynedale Lawn Tennis Club was founded in 1888 and moved to its present-day location on Priors Flat in 1889, after a leasehold was acquired to lay turf (measuring "an area of 58 yards by 40 yards") for the construction of new tennis courts. ^[5] In the 1940s, three hard (shale) tennis courts were added; these were replaced by tarmacadam courts in the late 1960s. ^[5] In 1977 a new Tynedale Sports Club was created, merging the hockey, cricket and tennis sections as one sports club. In 2021 The Tynedale Lawn Tennis Club changed its name to the Hexham Lawn Tennis Club. ^[6]

Finals

Men's Singles

(incomplete roll)

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Score
Hexham Tournament
1881	Jasper Gibson	M. Liddell	6-0, 6–0, 6–2. [7]
1882	Jasper Gibson	John Arthur Jackson	6-0, 6–0, 6–2. [7]
Tyndale Open Tournament
1908	Stanley Gate	Frank Widdas	1-6, 6–1, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2. [7]

Women's Singles

(incomplete roll)

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Score
Tyndale Open Tournament
1890	Jane Corder	Helen Jackson	8-6, 6-0
1893	Charlotte Copper	Lottie Paterson	6-4, 3-6, 6-1
1894	Helen Jackson	Lottie Paterson	6-3, 6-2
1895	Lucy Kendal	B. Jackson	w.o.
1896	Beatrice Wood Draffen	Lucy Kendal	6-4, 8-6
1897	Lucy Kendal	Miss Lister	6-0, 6-3
1898	Muriel Robb	Mrs Lewis	2-6, 6–4, 6-2
1907	Helen Aitchison	Mrs J.E. Day	divided title
1908	Mrs J.E. Day	P. Lee	6-2, 6-1
1909	Mabel Hurlbatt Dudgeon	Annie Mack	7-5. 6-4
1911	Mabel Hurlbatt Dudgeon	Mrs Wilkinson	def
1912	M. Fergus	Miss Walton-Brown	6-0, 6-1
1914	M.E. Morton	Mrs Neilson	6-4, 6-2
1915/1919	Not held (due to world war one)
1920	Ruth Watson	Mrs Spoor	8-6, 6-4
1921	M. Hart	Mrs Helps	3-6, 6–1, 9-7
1923	Lesley Cadle	Dorothy Alexander	6-2, 2–6, 6-2
1924	Lesley Cadle	C.D. Shafto	6-1, 7-5
1925	Ruth Watson	Kathleen Aitchison	10-8. 8-6
1926	Ruth Watson	Lesley Cadle	w.o.
1927	Ruth Watson	Kathleen Aitchison	6-4, 6-3
1928	Ruth Watson	V. March	7-5, 6-1
1929	E. Carrick	V. March	6-2, 6-1
1931	Ruth Watson	Dorothy Alexander	6-4, 3–6, 6-0

References

1. Orcutt, William Dana (1897). Official Lawn Tennis Bulletin. Boston: The Horace Partridge Company. p. 77.
2. LAWN TENNIS HEXHAM. This tournament that was played yesterday on the Priors Flat Grounds, concluded in a victory for Jasper Gibson in the gentleman's singles, a mixed pairs event was won by Miss Cruddas and Mr. J. Gibson against Mr J. H. Nicholson and Miss. Kirsopp. The Field. British Newspaper Archive.31 August 1881. London, England. p.8
3. The Field
4. "History". www.hexhamtennisclub.co.uk. Hexham Tennis Club. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
5. "History of Hexham Tennis Club". Hexham Tennis Club. Retrieved 16 February 2025.
6. Tulip, Joseph (8 April 2021). "It's all in a name change for long-serving tennis club in Hexham". Hexham Courant. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
7. "Tournament – Hexham". www.tennisarchives.com. Tennis Archives. Retrieved 23 February 2023.