The Tynedale Open 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.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 The first winner of the men's singles was England's Jasper Gibson.The Field The first tournament was staged until 1885. In 1888 the Tynedale Lawn Tennis Club, 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. 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. In the 1940s, three hard (shale) tennis courts were added; these were replaced by tarmacadam courts in the late 1960s. 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.
Finals Men's Singles (incomplete roll) YearWinnerRunner-upScoreHexham Tournament1881 Jasper Gibson M. Liddell6-0, 6–0, 6–2. 1882 Jasper Gibson John Arthur Jackson 6-0, 6–0, 6–2.Tyndale Open Tournament1908 Stanley Gate Frank Widdas1-6, 6–1, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2.
Women's Singles (incomplete roll) YearWinnerRunner-upScoreTyndale Open Tournament1890 Jane Corder Helen Jackson8-6, 6-01893 Charlotte Copper Lottie Paterson 6-4, 3-6, 6-11894 Helen Jackson Lottie Paterson 6-3, 6-21895 Lucy Kendal B. Jacksonw.o.1896 Beatrice Wood Draffen Lucy Kendal6-4, 8-61897 Lucy Kendal Miss Lister6-0, 6-31898 Muriel Robb Mrs Lewis2-6, 6–4, 6-21907 Helen Aitchison Mrs J.E. Daydivided title1908 Mrs J.E. Day P. Lee 6-2, 6-11909 Mabel Hurlbatt Dudgeon Annie Mack7-5. 6-41911 Mabel Hurlbatt Dudgeon Mrs Wilkinson def1912 M. Fergus Miss Walton-Brown6-0, 6-11914 M.E. Morton Mrs Neilson6-4, 6-21915/1919Not held (due to world war one)1920 Ruth Watson Mrs Spoor8-6, 6-41921 M. Hart Mrs Helps3-6, 6–1, 9-71923 Lesley Cadle Dorothy Alexander6-2, 2–6, 6-21924 Lesley Cadle C.D. Shafto6-1, 7-51925 Ruth Watson Kathleen Aitchison10-8. 8-61926 Ruth Watson Lesley Cadlew.o.1927 Ruth Watson Kathleen Aitchison6-4, 6-31928 Ruth Watson V. March7-5, 6-11929 E. Carrick V. March6-2, 6-11931 Ruth Watson Dorothy Alexander6-4, 3–6, 6-0
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