Now traditional knurr and spell is given TV makeover

Researchers for the programme were able to track down vital information about the traditional Yorkshire game of knurr and spell from the collections of Kirklees Museums and Galleries, via Huddersfield Tolson Museum's new website.

Knurr and spell used to be a very popular game – the best players competed for large prizes, with records of 800 spectators.

Tolson Museum's knurr, a ball, and a spell – a spring frame, with pommel, making a bat – is one of the top 10 "must see" objects featured on the museum's website. That kit, together with a stuffed dog which, when it was alive, would have retrieved lost knurrs, will be appearing on Countryfile on Sunday, January 30, at 7pm.

Collections officer Chris Yeates spent a morning last week filming outdoors showing programme presenter Julia Bradbury how knurr and spell was played. Then local enthusiasts played the game using equipment they made based on research into the museum's objects.

The presenter was intrigued by this traditional Yorkshire sport, and asked why it had died out.

Mr Yeates explained that changing farming practices had had a big impact, as did the death of traditional industries and their associated communities.