Geoff Graham Old Hemsworthian reports in 2002
"In my enquiries about the Hemsworth court I learned of a book written circa 1980 by another ex pupil. Called "Hemsworth High Hall", it recorded the history of the building which exists from the mid C18th. The building was either demolished or (more likely) had been added to in the 19th century. Three families had owned and lived in it - one with very high connections namely the Lindley-Woods. Charles Lindley-Wood 1800/1885, one of the sons of Sir Francis became Chancellor of the Exchequer and Viscount Halifax. The final owners were the Leatham family who were big in banking. They sold the house to West Riding CC in 1920 when it became the school I attended and adored.

The court was very evidently built by one of the families as it was in a very beautiful, sequestered part of the grounds adjacent to the potting sheds (which were lean-tos on the outside of the court). The wear on the flagged floor bore testimony to many, many years of hard use too. Sadly this court was demolished in 1957 and a replacement court built. However the usual shortage of land for expansion resulted in that court being demolished in the mid to late eighties. i.e. the court was not sufficiently valued by the regime for it to be saved.

The Girls' Arch was so called because in the late 40's and fities when I was there, the grounds were still segregated in what was in a way a ground-breaking co-ed Grammar School. The grounds were in places symmetrical (like so many old, formal gardens) and there was the remains of a ha-ha ditch with 8 foot high brick walls runnning up to its edge where the more formal gardens ended. (There was also a quarry from which the stone for the old house had been dug and in which A Midsummer Night's Dream was performed each year). Through each wall was an arch and these were perhaps 100 metres apart and facing each other. The Boys' Arch was adjacent to and part of the Fives Court series of walls. If one left the court bearing right around its rear and right again through the Boys' Arch the lean-to empire of the gardener was revealed - greenhouse and sheds. Magical! There was even a pig stye c/w pigs - a hang over from rationing and meat shortages perhaps in 1949? The gardens were so old that there was considerable overhang from trees and one after another "secret" corner. Of course, this view of the place depended heavily on one's own taste. Even at that age however, I was of a romantic, artistic sort of nature hating all sport but Fives and Tennis. My habitat was the school choirs, art-room and working on support for school theatrical productions - not acting in them!"

Report and photographs received from Jo Seelig (Old Boy of the School) December 2005:

"The three courts were erected in 1958, when the School moved from its city centre site at Five Ways to the semi-rural setting of Bartley Green on the outskirts of Birmingham. The photos were taken by John Eggleton, a pupil interested in photography who snapped away at the new site between 1958 and 1962. I don't think he specifically set out to photograph the courts, rather they appear as an incidental detail in a picture of something else. In the first photo they appear as part of a general view of the rear of the school buildings. The second photo shows them in relation to the start of work on the sports pavilion, revealed in all its early 60's glory in the third (together with the subsequently built outdoor swimming pool) and fourth picture. The courts were really excellent, with black walls. Sadly they survived only some thirty years before demolition."

"Why were they demolished? Well, it might have been different had Howard Wiseman and his Coaching Agency been around in those days. As far as I know the School never ever had a fives-playing master - Hughes and Campbell (Old Edwardians) came and played an exhibition match in, I think, 1958, taught one or two of the older smokers and card players the rules, and that was that. Few people played in my time at the school, enough to make up the numbers for a House competition, and I don't think there was much activity at all from the start of the 70s. And then the usual thing, lack of use, slow dilapidation, and finally demolition to make way for some new building project. There was just no-one there to care. I did have an occasional correspondence with a couple of the headmasters long ago in which I tried to encourage them to refurbish the courts etc, but finally and probably quite sensibly I was told to either send a very large cheque or b..... off - well, words to that effect. Fair enough. fives was probably just too obscure and toff-sounding for Five Ways at that time, and went the way of the House system, cadet corps etc etc.

I visited the School about ten years ago and found it a very different place. Mostly unrecognisable, about twice the size I remembered, lots of impressive new buildings and vastly improved. It was really rather splendid. But I still think all Fives courts should be listed buildings and that no headmaster should have the right to deprive future generations of playing a wonderful game!"

Described as bizarre in 1981. Nick Lord a teacher at the School reports "I suspect the 'Fives court' at Mowden Hall was never built as such, but adapted from what was possibly a tack room. Originally called Newton Hall, the older buildings were built in the latter part of the 19th century. This area of the school (now almost entirely classrooms) has always been known as 'Stable Yard' and the description fits well. Some of the rooms were clearly once stables and others areas where carriages were kept. There must also have been storerooms, workshop and tack rooms too I suspect.

I imagine the 'court' was probably adapted from one of these smaller rooms at some point after Newton Hall became Mowden Hall School in 1947. The larger adjoining room became a gym, later a squash court (in about 1983) and in 1995 the Art room when the old fives court was also converted into toilets.

Around 1980 the sport was fostered by Rob Farrow, English master, keen athlete and sportsman but when he left in 1981 the court fell into disuse. It was an odd shape though. Old photographs could be impossible to find - it was badly lit and enclosed on all sides."

And, errrr, no we don't have any buttresses sticking out - would make squash a tad challenging...!!"

Ben Price (Old Reptonian) discovered the existence of these former courts in a 1907 planning application.

"The three courts were used on a very casual basis but very popular, you had to queue sometimes for a game and I remember clearly the rush to get there first at the end of morning school. It was a big advantage to be taught in G Block. Several of the Staff played and I remember playing matches against them, but there no school fixtures or anything of that sort. They were demolished to make space for a new Science Block I believe, but it was during my time away from the school while I was at Oxford or in the Navy." (Roger Harris - information supplied by EFA member Hugh Amos)

email from Rob Davis 2nd September 2001
"I used to play Fives whilst at Stoneygate in the mid 1960s and there were 2 courts then, as you stand with your back to the school looking out over the rear playground, the courts were on the left at the rear of the locker rooms.

Being a fan of the famous air ace Douglas Bader, I always played without a glove.

The courts were also used for the annual firework display, and for ad-hoc cricket, where the high walls made interesting catches possible, the rule being, "one hand one bounce" i.e. the batsman was considered caught out if the ball was caught one-handed by a fielder, as long as it had bounced only once off wall or floor!

I revisited the School about 8 years ago but I don't remember if the fives courts were still there."