Based at the picturesque Woodbottom ground in Lower Hopton, Mirfield, W.Yorkshire WF14 8NG. Go past the Flower Pot on your left towards the Ship after 300m turn onto Hagg Lane follow the signs to Wheatley Park. Follow the road to the end, the club is on the right hand side.. Hopton Mills CC was formed in 1895as the ‘works team’ for the nearby Hopton Mills. The cricket club was a recreational facil
ity for workers, and it paid a shilling a year to the company as a peppercorn rent. Unfortunately, the first ‘Hopton Mills CC’ was soon shut down. This was because a local man affectionately known as ‘Uncle Dickie’ – a Mills employee (probable full name: Richard Wheatley) – was spending too much time in the club bar. The authorities at the mills were annoyed with this behaviour (it was affecting productivity!) and thus closed the club down as punishment. Today there are photos in the Woodbottom pavilion that relate to this fascinating period in the club’s history. As a cricket club linked to a textile company, Hopton Mills CC was ideally placed to compete in the ultimate local knockout competition: the Heavy Woollen Cup. Originally, clubs had to be located within six miles of Batley Town Hall – Hopton Mills took part in the cup between 1889 and 1892, and between 1904 and 1915. Hopton Mills overcame Spen Victoria in the semi-final of the 1911 Heavy Woollen Cup. Then, in one of the most amazing Heavy Woollen Cup finals, Hopton Mills locked horns with Batley. The game entered the record books as the highest-scoring final ever, and carried on for two days. Following on from the Uncle Dickie saga, a new cricket club was born: Whitley Lower CC. This club had no connection with the mill – it was simply a collection of villagers. Hence the new club’s name – signifying a geographical rather than occupational identity. That said, a number of ‘Hopton Mills’ players would have stayed on and played for ‘Whitley Lower’. Whitley Lower CC survived right up until 1989 and the merger with Dewsbury & Savile CC. For decades the new club competed in the Dewsbury & District League. It prospered at its beautiful headquarters, Woodbottom, surrounded by luscious greenery and a handsome monkey tree located right next door to the pavilion! Of course, cricket had been played at Woodbottom for around a century previously, but 1989 did mark a new dawn. The merger was between Whitley Lower CC (the club whose home was Woodbottom) and Dewsbury & Savile CC (a very famous club, based in Savile Town, Dewsbury). The merger was a complex affair. Woodbottom was the natural home for the new club, and the new name – ‘Hopton Mills CC’ – paid due respect to the geography and industrial history of Lower Hopton. The new club is now 25 years old, and is in a very solid state of health. One of the main rationales of the ‘merger’ was the securing of major-league cricket at Woodbottom. This the new authorities achieved when they were successful in their application to join the Central Yorkshire League. In 2016 Hopton Mills joined the ECB approved Bradford Cricket League which is now the best league for the area. Today, in 2023 Hopton Mills CC is a healthy and happy club , a thriving junior section U9's, U11, U13's and a very hardworking committee, who have secured a Sport England grant in 2014 and built new changing rooms and in 2015 we added a 2 lane full length bowling facility and 3 new covers. The future really does look bright.
