Ashbourne Shrovetide Football Event New Stone Turn Up Platform
On Shrove Tuesday at 2pm, the oldest game of football will commence, with the ‘turn up’ of the Shrovetide Ball. This year in Ashbourne, on Tuesday 21st and Wednesday 22nd of February 2023, a multitude of people will gather to participate and watch, the Royal Shrovetide Football event. Played over the 2 days and 8 hours a day, it is both notorious, newsworthy and known across the world.
Until last year the ‘turn up’ – where the ball is thrown from the starting place to begin the game – took place on a small red brick plinth on Shaw Croft car park in Ashbourne town centre. However the Royal Shrovetide Committee decided to commission a new platform, to replace the plinth, from which to ‘turn up’ takes place and return it to the centre of the carpark as it had been historically positioned.
We were commissioned to supply a suitable sized stone.
Scott Marsden, from Buxton Architectural Stone said, “We are honoured to have been commissioned to supply the radius natural stone ashlar, copings & steps for this project which required expertise in order to cut the accurate measurements required for this project. Our specialised skills and experience allows us to create and develop bespoke projects such as these along side the team of builders and we have been able to adapt the dimensions on a daily basis to help make the build of this unique piece come together within millimetre’s of accuracy. We are also able to supply our recommended stonemasons to give the professional personal finishing inscriptions. Some of our team will be coming down for the ‘turn up’ and seeing everyone take part in this wonderful local historical event.”
The impressive structure has a large circular rounded tall front, which resembles a regal balcony. From the rear there is a set of steps taking the turner up (the person who does the ‘turn up’ into the ‘hug’) rises above the gathered players and has an imposing platform from which to commence proceedings!
So this year the Up’ards and Down’ards will have a brand new platform to stand proudly in front of and receive the ball as it is thrown to start the game. After the ball is thrown up into the ‘hug’, the teams try to grab the ball and move it towards their goal. Due to the amount of people taking part, it tends to look like a wild rugby scrum with those taking part using the weight and advantage of people in their team, to force the ball towards through the crowd and to the goal! The highlight of each day is the scoring of the goals which in turn brings glory to families whose loved one’s have been lucky enough to score a goal.
If you want to see behind the scenes and read more about how the project came about; visit our page HERE (coming soon). You may want to sign up to our newsletter to get informed of when this goes live!
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