Mysterious Stone Throwing at New Farnley.
About the most mysterious affair that ever occurred at New Farnley took place in the Spring of 1900, when for about a week the Farnley Ironworks cricket pavilion was pelted with stones. The club was having a new pavilion erected by Messrs. W. Nicholson and Sons, the Leeds contractors; the old pavilion was removed to another part of the ground for the use of the junior eleven.
After the pavilion was removed, workmen commenced to repair it, but no sooner had they started their work than stones came showering upon them. They naturally looked for the people who had thrown them but were unable to find them. This struck them as a very strange thing, because from the pavilion to the boundary wall the distance must be fully 200 yards of f[?] field, skirted (then) by a few trees of meagre growth. The stones continued to come, sometimes at intervals of ten minutes and sometimes an hour or so. They varied from about five pounds to a few ounces, most of them having the appearance of having been used in a dry wall, while the remainder seemed to have been picked from a brook or gutter, being of the nature of pebbles.
First P.C. Wallgate, then P.S. Hebditon and two detectives put in an appearance but could make nothing of it. It was almost an impossibility to see the stones come, although at times they were seen by some people. They were, however, thrown so fast that many theories were advanced as to how they were projected. Some declare they were either shot from a sling or from some kind of gun. Anyhow, so accurate was the aim that they scarcely ever missed their object. There were only three whole windows left, and it was no uncommon thing for two or three stones to follow each other through the door or window frame in rapid succession.
It became so dangerous for the workmen that they had to leave the job on the Friday, having stuck it all the week. The stoning stopped when they left.
There were hundreds of interested spectators and all were surprised that no solution was ever found for so strange a phenomenon.
The report smacks rather of the nature of a fairy tale, but it is the simple truth relating to the mysterious stone throwing in New Farnley.
George Mountain. Mountville, Whitehall Road, New Farnley, Leeds.
Leeds Mercury, 10th September 1938.
Who threw those stones?
We would deem it an honour if, by sparing a few lines of your respected newspaper, you could unshroud a mystery that is puzzling our worthy inhabitants. Two of our clients state – with unlimited cash to back the statement – that on a certain occasion about 50 years ago something happened resembling the eighth wonder of the world.
It appears that a certain Farnley cricket club near the premises of Dunlop and Ranken (Whitehall Road) attempted to build a pavillion. Each time the structure was begun an unseen volley of stones demolished it. Time and time again work was restarted, but every time the mysterious stone-throwing knocked down what had been put up.
In th eend, strange as it may seem, the whole scheme had to be shelved. Although the best brains from police H.Q. were called in, the stone-throwing had to be listed as an unsolved mystery.
Seriously, Editor, I can assure you that there are several hundreds of Drighlington’s inhabitants with the utmost interest for light to be thrown on this affair. – Black Bull Inn (Drighlington).
Yorkshire Evening Post, 5th June 1947.