Irish road bowlers have nothing on the forgotten potshare bowlers of England | Letter

Peter Welsh on 19th-century sporting heroes from the north-eastRegarding your article (‘Same magic’: ancient Irish road bowling has been revived by TikTok, drones and Bill Murray, 22 September), “Ware the bool” was a shout regularly heard on the Blackfell at Gateshead, on the Town Moor at Newcastle, on Newbiggin Moor or on Blyth beach in the latter part of the 19th century and into the 20th. It was the cry to warn people that a potshare bowl (made of whinstone and weighing up to 50 ounces, or about 1.4kg) might be about to lay waste to their lower legs, having been thrawn, hoyed or houghed (propelled) by a “hardy knight of the black diamond” (pitman).I doubt that the hardy knights would have been impressed by the Irish lads using 28-ounce bowls and nor does the length of “hoy” look much more than about 80 metres. Geordie potshare “boolers” were used to nine “thraws” to cover the mile course on the Town Moor. Continue reading...

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