Middleton St George Parish Magazine, issued in 1871, refers to Middleton Iron Works Cricket Club: `We are glad to hear that this club 'shows well' for the coming season, a good number of members have joined and we may expect to see some good cricket. Several matches are in the course of being arranged, and the management of the club seems to be in energetic hands. Some trouble has been experienced in obtaining a suitable field, but one has been obtained temporarily, for the season, between the works and the village, opposite Almora Hall'. Historic mapping shows the field immediately to the south of the proposed development area as the `Cricket Ground'. it would therefore appear that the field was utilised as a cricket pitch for much longer than a season as was suggested in 1871, and in fact Pallister has noted that it was home to Middleton Cricket Club for around 80 years (1). The site had a pavillion in the north east corner by 1939. It was built over with housing by the closing decades of the 20th century.