From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bat and trap is an ancient English ball game related to cricket and played at country pubs in the county of Kent.

It is also played in the city of Brighton in Sussex though by the late 20th century the only regular game was played on Good Friday on the Level, the park in the centre of Brighton. The pub sign of The Bat and Ball, on the Level, commemorates the game.

Trap used in bat and trap

The game is played between two teams of up to eight players. At any one time, one team is batting and the other is bowling. The game involves placing a heavy solid-rubber ball, similar to a lacrosse ball, on one end of a "trap", which is a low wooden box 22 inches long, 5 inches wide, and 5 inches high, on top of which is a simple see-saw mechanism. Each player in turn on the batting side hits the opposite end of the see-saw lever (the "striker") with his or her bat, so as to propel the ball into the air, and then, using the same bat, attempts to hit the ball between two 7-foot high posts situated 21 yards away and 13 feet 6 inches apart at the other end of the playing area, or "pitch".

The bowling side stand behind and between the posts. If any of them catches the ball before it hits the ground the batsman is out. The batsman is also out if he or she fails to hit the ball between the posts at a height not exceeding 7 feet. After each successful hit, one fielder (the one whose turn it is to bowl next), returns the ball to the batting end by hurling, tossing, or bowling it back towards the trap, attached to the front of which is a 5-inch square target, or "wicket", hinged at the bottom. If the bowler hits the wicket with the ball so as to knock it flat, the batsman is "bowled out". If the bowler does not succeed, the batsman scores one run and continues to play. Once all the members of the first batting team are out, the batting and bowling teams change places and the game continues until all players on both sides have batted.

Trap-ball or Knur and Spell is an old English game. It can be traced back to the beginning of the fourteenth century and was commonly played in northern England as late as 1825, but has since been practically confined to children. As late as the 1930s exhibition games of knur and spell by veterans drew large crowds to the Rusland Valley in North Lancashire, according to the chronicles of the North West Evening Mail, But even then it was regarded as an archaic game. Knur refers to a hardwood ball, as could be made from a knot of wood. (From Middle High German knorre, knot) Spell is the stick of wood used to strike it. (Probably from Old Norse, spela, or Old High German spilla, stake)

It was played with a wooden trap, by means of which a ball (a knur) of hard wood about the size of a walnut was thrown into the air, where it was struck by the player with the trip-stick, which is a bat consisting of two parts: a 4 ft long stick made of ash or lancewood; and the pommel, a piece of very hard wood about 6 in. long, 4 in. wide and 1 in. thick. This was swung in both hands, although shorter bats for one hand were sometimes used.

Originally the ball was thrown into the air by striking a lever upon which it rested in the trap, but in the later development of the game, usually called knur and spell, a spell or trap furnished with a spring was used, thus ensuring regularity in the height to which the knur was tossed. The object of the game was to strike the knur the greatest possible distance, either in one or a series of strokes.

• Stoolball
• Origins of baseball
• Pub games

• Canterbury & District Bat & Trap League
• Sevenoaks & District Bat & Trap League
• East Kent Friendly Bat & Trap League

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.