History of Scorton Archers
The village of Scorton in North Yorkshire has a very long association with archery spanning some five hundred years. It is recorded in the sixteenth century, that Scorton village was commanded by King Henry VIII to provide 24 sheaves of arrows, 576 in all, to his army for use at the battle of Flodden Field in September 1513. Henry Jenkins a local man, who is reputed to have lived to a great age and whose memorial can be seen in the church of the neighbouring village of Bolton-on-Swale, is said to have delivered the arrows by cart to Northallerton, where the King’s Armies passed through on the way to the battle.
In 1673 a group of gentleman archers from the surrounding area held an archery contest at Scorton to shoot for an “Antient Silver Arrow” which had been donated by John Wastrell of the Manor House, Scorton. Rules stipulate that the competition is to be held annually and can only take place within the ancient County of Yorkshire. The winner each year nominates the venue for the following year. Since its inception, the Silver Arrow contest has been held practically every year and is considered to be the countries longest continuously recorded sporting competition. In 1958 Charles Robson became the first, and to date the only man from Scorton village itself to have won the Antient Silver Arrow, albeit the contest has been held at the village several times since 1673. Current members who have won the Ancient Silver Arrow were Paul Scudamore in 1985, Andrew Stapleton in 2007 and most recently Mark Farrow in 2009.
Scorton has held a Scorton Village Feast of activities for many years and archery has been included in the feast since the last 1940’s. In 1951 Charles Robson, together with several other local persons who were interested in archery, decided to form an archery club to give support to the Antient Silver Arrow competition which was scheduled to be held in Scorton village that year.
To this end, at a meeting on 19 January held in the Royal Hotel the archery club The Company of Scorton Archers was formed with some twenty members. The club initially practised archery in a field at Tancred Grange off the Richmond road until 1956 when the venue was moved to the archery field at the east end of the village by kind permission of St John of God Hospital and where the club remains at present.
The club is affiliated to GNAS and open to adult and junior members who meet every week to practise archery. Certain club tournaments are held each year at which trophies and awards are competed for by club members of all levels and skill.