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BARNSLEY SPEEDWAY This site is not an official website for the track shown here and is neither approved or endorsed by the speedway team. |
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Barnsley was one of the first areas in the country to hold speedway meetings although their history is short. Records show that the first meeting took place on 29th May 1928 at Lundwood, as indicated on the very rare badge shown below. Lundwood Dirt Track was a 380 yard track built on a hillside and situated on the Pontefract Road in Barnsley. There were none of the usual luxuries, no pits and no stands, and racing was organised by Barnsley Motorcycle and Car Club. |
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It opened for Dirt Racing on 29th May 1928 when it was Open racing. The next year they took part in the English Dirt Track League, and I am guessing you might have attended one of these meetings. Do you have any memories of it which you could share with the site? Maybe your dad, granddad or uncle remembers Bob Allen who established the track record and won the Silver Sash and All-Star scratch event. Indeed the very first speedway league match was staged at Lundwood when Barnsley competed against Leeds. |
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The very next year, its final year, they offered Northern League racing. However, they resigned from the League when crowd sizes were disappointing. The final meeting was a Golden Helmut meeting on 5th July 1930. The team did not enjoy the support they required to keep afloat and after the 5th July 1930 speedway never returned to the area. |
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I am grateful to Ashley Wright for his memories of the area where the track once stood, and for the links provided below. He comments, ‘I just remember it because my brother rode his motorbike there in the 80's. I keep meaning to go back there for a walk to see if I can remember it. I have looked on google satellite view and you can’t see any of it remaining. ‘ |
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Ashley continues with, ‘There are some trees with tracks through but no evidence of a circle unless it’s the field next door, but think that it’s just tractor tracks now.’ |
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| This section gives a comprehensive picture of
the badges produced for the team throughout the ages, but only provides the briefest of
glimpses of its history. For those wishing to read more widely we recommend a visit to
http://astore.amazon.co.uk/wwwgreyhoundd-21 especially Complete History of the British
League:
by
Peter Oakes ISBN-10: 0948882077
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I am grateful to Tom Read, who now lives in South Africa, for the old map of Barnsley and Lundwood shown below. The map clearly shows the location of the speedway track. Tom comments that he was born within 200 yards of the track and learnt to ride his motorbike there in 1954. He later progressed to TT racing, contesting his last race in the 1967 Diamond Jubilee TT. From the track one could see the Monk Bretton church spire in the background.
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Ashley Wright comments on the photo of the track shown above. ‘It is great to have this photographic evidence to enable me to figure out where the track was, as the photo allows me to see the railway and the brick factory chimney in Cudworth.’ A further great source of information is provided on John Skinner's excellent website on Defunct Speedway tracks, with a link given below. More detailed information is available from "Homes of British Speedway' by Robert Bamford & John Jarvis For all Speedway enthusiasts, John Somerville’s website should always be your first port of call:-https://www.skidmarks1928.com/v/photos/john-somerville-collection |
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| 1928 | 1929 | 1930 |