Quoits on the North York Moors

It might be parochial, or even doggedly insular, but nothing reflects the unique distinctiveness of the North York Moors and our local cultural heritage than the summertime game of quoits - played at a local village pub.

You'll Need a Dead-keen Eye and a Stron Arm to throw the Quoit.

If it were possible, it is even more distinctive to our region that the local passion for village cricket on long summer evenings.

Played almost nowhere else than North Yorkshire; and in the high moors around Eskdale in particular, quoits owes its history to the Norsemen invaders who settled this region over 1,000 years ago.

The game is disceptively simple: toss a metal hoop from one end of a pitch to the other with the object of scoring a "ringer" over a metal pin (t'hob) sticking out of a clay surround.

If you can't hoopla the hob, then at least touch the metal pin; and failing that, score a point for getting your quoit closer to the hob than your opponents.

Closest t t'hob Wins!

So what will you need to be crowned quoits 'World Champion' at the Beckhole games held each summer?

A strong arm; 'cause the quoit weighs-in at five pounds.  A good eye.  A mean streak.  And a willingness to spend plenty of time drinking at the local pub while you practice!

You'll find quoits being played close-by Rosella Cottage on many summer evenings at the Fox and Hounds in Ainthorpe or near the Duke of Wellington in Danby.  Both pubs are only a short drive from Rosedale Abbey.

Beckhole is perhaps the spiritual home of the game, and not a bad place to visit either for a drink at the Birch Hall Inn.