The Tynedale Open Tournament^[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 an 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. that 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 as a cement court built in the Hexham Abbey grounds. Its success led to acquiring the leasehold of Prior's Flat with a contract to lay turf on the tennis courts.^[5] Tynedale Lawn Tennis Club’ itself was founded in 1888 and moved to its present-day location on Prior's Flat in 1889.^[5] Beginning in the 1940s through to the 1940s 3 hard (shale) tennis courts which were replaced by three 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 Tyndale lawn Tennis Club changed its name to the Hexham Lawn Tennis Club.^[6]

Finals

Mens 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]

Womens Singles

(incomplete roll)

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Score
Tyndale Open Tournament
1890	Jane Corder	Helen Jackson	8-6, 6-0
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