Legacy of Fives at Stonyhurst: From Philosophers to Forgotten Courts
There are four Eton fives courts at Stonyhurst.
The earliest known reference to fives there is in a letter, dated 26-27 September 1882, sent by Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ to his friend Robert Bridges, in which he includes fives courts in the list of the College’s facilities and amenities. An article on the Philosophers* printed in The Stonyhurst Magazine in 1960 states that “the rackets and fives courts were built for the Philosophers, and like many other good things were inherited by the boys”.
Following an inspection of the College by the Oxford & Cambridge Examination Board in 1887 they reported, “The provisions for healthy sports, cricket, tennis, racquets, fives, are most ample, and under conditions far superior to many of the Public Schools”. The fact that the report relates to ‘the College’ and not just to the Philosophers implies that the boys were using the courts, so we can deduce that the courts were originally built by or for the Philosophers – presumably emulating their Protestant contemporaries at Oxford and Cambridge – and that thereafter the game became a school sport.
There are few references to fives at Stonyhurst up to 1920 in the surviving literature but there was a letter in praise of the game in the February 1924 edition of the Stonyhurst Magazine accompanied by a comment from the editor: “… by the Mill we actually possess two courts” adding that “two more could be provided without much trouble or expense”.
The “Fives Club” appears to have had its ups and downs through the 1920s, reaching a record number of 30 members in 1925. In spite of this, the lighting was described as “extremely inadequate” and the gutters as leaking “very badly”.
By 1934 there had been another surge: “The Fives Club has taken on a new lease of life… The Fives Courts have been thoroughly reconditioned and a tournament has been held during June and July. There are about 40 members in the Club”. All the tournament results are given.
Fives was played throughout the remainder of the 1930s, and was included in the Inter-Line Challenge Cup section as part of the competitive sports programme up to July 1939, after which it was not mentioned again until 1951. The mid-1950s seem to have been the acme of Fives at Stonyhurst with home and away matches being played against Merchant Taylors’, Crosby. In 1954 Stonyhurst won both matches, although in the away game the number of games won by each team was even, the winner being the team scoring the most individual points. This resulted in the narrowest of Stonyhurst victories, by 114 points to 111.
After this, the game again lost ground “due to the attraction of more outdoor sports” but in October 1967 fives was included in the list of sports available at Stonyhurst to the new boys from Beaumont (which had closed down).
In 1990, Geography and IT teacher Jef Holdsworth undertook the restoration of the courts and reintroduced it as a games option, but when he left Stonyhurst in 1997 the game came to an abrupt end; it is now 16 years since it has been played. The courts are judged to be in an “easily restorable” condition, but access is not permitted due to the unsafe condition of an adjacent building.