Manchopper in…Littletown

Result: Littletown 4-0 Calverley United (Yorkshire Amateur League Supreme Division)

Venue: Beck Lane (Saturday 21st May 2022; 2pm)

Att: 110 (approx.)

If I’m honest, I thought my season was coming to a close the previous weekend at Lower Hopton and their game with Wortley. However, I would come across a game in the same division just a week later which carried upon it a likely title success for the home side and, well, they’re the contests that just can’t be missed, aren’t they?! As such, I would be returning into the Yorkshire Amateur League and its Supreme Division, as Littletown FC took on Calverley United at the historic Beck Lane ground.

Heading on through Manchester and into Dewsbury on a packed out train (largely on account of York Races also being on – a fact I had missed beforehand), I eventually was able to escape the hordes on board and head on down to the town’s bus station, from where I’d catch the service up to Heckmondwike, where Littletown’s ground is situated. The club gets its name from a small area just outside the town, where I’d be concentrating my pub game for the day!

I hopped off in Heckmondwike at a little after 11am and figured I’d pop into one of Heckmondwike’s pubs, whilst leaving the others for my next visit to these parts – hopefully for White Rose FC, who play at the town’s sports club. As such, I opted for the decent-looking Red Lion which, I’d later find out, rather unsurprisingly given the smell of new paint and the like, had recently been given a refurb. It is smart inside, although I was almost given two pints of San Miguel, rather than my ordered one (£3.85-ish). If it was going free, I might have considered it but, alas, one in each is the rule around these pages.

Arriving in Heckmondwike

Red Lion

From the Red Lion, I made my way slightly uphill, down a side road patrolled by a couple of cats and across an old railway bridge, eventually coming upon my first planned pub in and around the Littletown area – namely the Old Hall. Now, the Old Hall is a Sam Smith’s – a brewery I largely try to avoid due to their idiotic no-electronics policy – but this pub was too interesting to miss out on. Upon entering, you immediately step back in time, as the pub’s wood-lined interior really makes you feel you might have gone back in time. For once, the no electrics was rather fitting and kind of worked!

Also, the new owners of the recently re-opened Old Hall were very welcoming and had a chat about the localities and a bit about what every pub had in store – as well as my experience in Mirfield the previous week, where they previously ran a bar out of. As such, I was happy I’d made an exception to the rule to pay a visit here and it’s well worth you doing the same too, if you ever find yourself around this part of Yorkshire. Alas, I soon had to finish my pint of Alpine lager (£2.80) and move on down the tree-lined pathway linking the Old Hall with my next stop-off point: the Liversedge.

Old Hall

The Liversedge

Now, I’d wanted to pop into the Liversedge when I blogged…well, Liversedge(!), but it eluded me on that occasion, as nearby Cleckheaton had more than enough about it to keep me entertained. But its time was now and I entered in, already expecting the fairly usual gastropub-style fayre. However, this is a little different to some, as it has some kind of accommodation out to the rear in the form of some old outbuildings, which had been repurposed at some point in time.

The Liversedge itself is a nice place to have a pint within but, with time running thin with the game being a 2pm start, I had to move on quickly and finished up my pint of Moretti (£4.70) prior to making my way through the nearby estate and eventually finding my next target: the Toby Jug. Located next to an old railway bridge, the Toby Jug is a pub that seems to have been around for quite some time and was pretty well populated on my arrival. Again, I didn’t have too much time to stay in here and opted for a swift Strongbow (£3.70) to see me through until kick-off.

Littletown is one of the constituent settlements that make up the district of Liversedge, West Yorkshire. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, most of its town centre was demolished in the 1960’s to allow for re-modelling and widening of the roads that pass through the area, most notably the main Bradford Road. Littletown isn’t necessarily a name that refers to its size, but rather it is named after a Mr. Little.

Heckmondwike, meanwhile, is a town within the metropolitan borough of Kirklees and is part of the Heavy Woollen District that covers this area of West Yorkshire. The origins of the town’s name most likely derives from the Old English Hēahmundes and wīc – meaning Heahmund’s dairy farm. It was recorded in the Domesday Book as Hedmundewic, before passing through a slight change of the name in 1166 and Hecmundewik in the 13th century. During the earlier Saxon times, the area was a “berewick” or independent village in the manor of Gomersal, which was held by Dunstan and Gamel prior to the Norman invasion.

Heckmondwike

Heckmondwike

After the conquest, William the Conquerer confiscated the lands and shared it amongst some of his supporters, one of whom was Ilbert de Lacy, who became Baron of Pontefract and the overlord of most of the local lands, including the Spen Valley. The Heckmondwike Urban District Council was founded in 1894 and this remained in place until the re-organisation of the local governmental scene in 1974, when Heckmondwike was incorporated into the new Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees.

Heckmondwike became known for the manufacturing of blankets, with Blanket Hall being built in 1811 to allow for trade in the town’s main manufacture and it remained in place until it was replaced by a second hall in 1839. The remnants of the original hall were finally demolished in 2008, along with some other older buildings that stood in that area of the town. Heckmondwike generated its own electricity until 1924, with some of the Power Company buildings still remaining in place.

Littletown

Littletown

Sporting-wise, the local footwear company, Goliath, or the Co-op Boot Company, made football boots for the great Sir Stanley Matthews. Notable people from Heckmondwike include cricketer and father of England and Middlesex skipper Mike, Horace Brearley, rugby union international Jeff Butterfield, musicians Mike Heaton and Dave Pybus, composers F.W. Wilson and Arthur Wood (The Archers theme) poet Mabel Ferret and executioner James Berry.

I caught the bus from the main road, just around the corner, which dropped me back in the centre of Heckmondwike and about five minutes walk away from the Beck Lane ground. Cutting through the supermarket carpark and crossing the small beck itself, it’s then under another bridge where you come across the ground entrance. The pitch itself is at the foot of the ‘driveway’ into the ground, with a few well-weathered portakabins being located at this end of the ground too. It did seem as though some kind of hot drinks and the like were being operated out of the right-hand one, but I didn’t notice this until later in the game, so didn’t partake, unfortunately.

Toby Jug

To the ground

Beck Lane definitely has character in abundance. Its main feature is its fairly sizeable covered standing area, which runs about three-quarters of the length of the pitch and straddles the half-way line. The remainder of the ground is open, grass standing, with the opposite side to the stand featuring a raised mound which runs the length of that side and has the beck running beyond it. Its also here that you’ll find the rescue equipment awaiting any balls that may enter its water! A dugout is located on either side of the pitch; but that’s the ground in a nutshell and this is the story of Littletown FC…

History Lesson:

Littletown Football Club was founded in 1960 and were playing in the West Riding County Amateur League’s Premier Division from at least the 2000-’01 season. The club was relegated to Division One in 2004, having finished bottom, and largely struggled until 2010, when they finished in 3rd place. The following year saw Littletown lift the league’s Division 1 title and be promoted back to the Premier Division.

The club went about cementing themselves as a solid mid-table outfit in the following years, steadily improving to finish 4th in 2017 – a season in which they also lifted the league’s Premier Division Cup. After finishing 5th in 2018, Littletown finished as runners-up in the league’s final season – its closure occurring at the end of the 2018-2019 campaign. They would move into the Yorkshire Amateur League upon the WRCAL’s folding.

Rescue Equipment!

Littletown were sitting as the league runners-up (and were set to be Terry Marfitt Trophy semi-finalists) in their first season in the league, prior to its premature end, thanks to the you-know-what. Their first fully completed season, 2020-’21, saw the club record a third-placed finish and this season has seen them perform strongly once more, with their showings leaving them on the brink of their first Yorkshire Amateur League title win ahead of this very game in question, as they led the way in the Supreme Division fairly comfortably.

Beck Lane itself is, of course, known for its part in the rise of one Denis Law – who was seen playing at the ground for Huddersfield Town’s youth side back in t’day. Manchester United, as well as Liverpool, tried and failed to sign him off the back of his performance (the latter having appointed Law’s former boss Bill Shankly at the club shortly before, but were unable to afford him), with Law instead going on to turn out for the likes of United’s cross-city rivals Manchester City and then Italian giants Torino, prior to finally joining the Red Devils and becoming an icon for both club and country…or something along those lines occurred, anyway!

The game got underway with Littletown immediately on the front foot, although they struggled to break down their visitors initially. The first chance fell the way of the hosts’ #7, who met a low cross but failed to quite get the contact he was after, before the same man was denied by a Calverley defender’s superb block, when it looked likely he’d find the net.

A header was then saved by the visiting ‘keeper, as the home side continued to dominate and I then got talking to a local photographer by the name of Steve, through until the half-time whistle. Good talking to you, mate! It was during this time that both of the first-half goals came along too, as the hosts finally got the breakthrough they needed to set them on their way to title glory.

Match Action

Match Action

Flowery corner!

The first goal came the way of #9, Oliver Bellwood, who finished off a good move nicely, before the lead was doubled just moments later, when #10, Scott Lightowler, latched onto a pull-back in the middle and smashed the ball home to give the home side a two-goal advantage heading into the half-time break. Half-time; 2-0 and I bid goodbye to Steve who was on his way to see if another local outfit could see their own title ambitions come to fruition.

The second half began in much the same vein that the first ended, with Littletown well on top of their visitors. Bellwood headed over early on in the piece, before Littletown secured their win and the points they needed with a third strike – this one coming via Lightowler’s second of the afternoon. On this occasion, the forward’s effort was deflected beyond the Calverley stopper and left him with little chance.

Littletown’s #2 than sandwedged over the bar – much to the delight of his team-mates – before #18 nearly added a fourth for the home side, but saw his shot well saved by the United gloveman. Lightowler then fired straight at him, as he searched out his hat-trick and #18 half-volleyed narrowly wide, before the hosts were awarded a pretty clear-cut penalty and the ball was duly thrown to Lightowler to complete his trio of goals. There was just one problem.

View from the stand

View from the mound

Later in the piece…

The problem being that he missed. His low spot-kick wasn’t the best and the ‘keeper guessed right to crown a fine personal display. However, he would still be beaten for a fourth time when a corner found its way through to the back-post, where the loose ball was recovered and delivered back into the middle, where #16, Matthew Bolton, supplied the headed finish. A late chance gave Calverley their only real sight of goal and even then it wasn’t much of one:- #11 firing way wide to round off a fitting performance for the Yorkshire Amateur League champions. Full time; 4-0.

Post-match, I took the roadway back towards Heckmondwike, but this time slightly away from the centre and more back towards the Littletown area, where my last three pub stops were awaiting. The first of these was the Black Bull – reached via Union Road and a cut-through of a small park area. The Black Bull was another nice pub and this time I did have time in abundance, so didn’t have to overly rush anything, which made a nice change! I opted for a pint of the Ossett Brewery’s Yøn lager (£4.10), which I’d never come across before. It proved a decent enough choice, with it having something more akin to a craft lager taste, if you get where I’m coming from.

Heading off post-match

Black Bull

From the Black Bull, the next on the crawl was a short walk away, this being, namely, the Lonsdale Hotel. Now, of course, I had horrific visions in my mind of the pub being full of people fully decked out in Lonsdale merch and the like – something along the lines of an awful ultras section or something. Luckily, I had no such sights meeting me upon my arrival, as the Lonsdale Hotel was devoid of any such horror. Indeed, it was fairly quiet but not dead and had the latter stages of the play-off game between Sunderland and Wycombe on, to keep me entertained during my stay – as did the pint of Amstel (£3.30), too.

Heading off from the Lonsdale Hotel and cutting through the path that runs alongside the nearby church, you come out around what was once the old centre of Littletown, before it was changed about back when the roads were widened and what have you. Alas, little is still there to suggest that it could’ve ever existed, though the large, rather dominating Old Oak pub seems to have overcome the changes made and continues to stand strong. As a result, it just had to be paid a visit too – a Strongbow Dark Fruits (£3.40) doing the job here, on what was a pretty balmy day.

Lonsdale Hotel

Wike Horse

So I thought that would end my pub tour of Heckmondwike and its surroundings. I made my way to the nearby bus stop and caught the bus back to, what I was informed by Maps, Dewsbury. However, this soon proved not to be the case, as the driver exclaimed upon our arrival in Heckmondwike that it was the ‘end of the line’ and so that was that. Great. Luckily, the Wike Horse was still available and proved to be a decent holding point for me, until I’d got a plan together to make my way back homewards.

Sitting in the beer garden of the Wike Horse with a bottle of Bud (£3.30), I eventually planned out a trip on the longer line back to Manchester, taking me out via Hebden Bridge and Rochdale and, eventually, into Victoria station. A bus runs from the town’s interchange up to Low Moor station which I should’ve been using a few weeks earlier, but Wyke Wanderers had already left their old home ground of Whitechapel Road, so I didn’t quite have the same want to visit a run-of-the-mill, temporary 4G quite as much!

The bus and trains all worked fairly well and I was dropped back in Manchester in time to grab the free bus across the city, meaning I could avoid the walk which I really didn’t fancy! From there, it was pretty much smooth sailing, which was a nice return to form after last week’s delays. So, its onto what will be the last weekend of the season next time out and it’ll be a third straight venture into the Yorkshire Amateur League. The Pennines won’t be the only mountainous area mentioned…