# Tynedale Open Tournament

The Tynedale Open Tournament was a grass court tennis tournament founded in 1881 as the Hexham Tournament and first staged at Priors Flat Grounds, Hexham, Northumberland, England.

## History

The Hexham Tournament was a late 19th century tennis event first staged around August 1881 at Priors Flat Cricket Grounds, Hexham, Northumberland, England. The first winner of the men's singles was England's Jasper Gibson. The first tournament was staged until 1885. In 1888 the Tynedale Lawn Tennis Club, and Tynedale Cricket Club were founded and staged events on the land leased by the Tyndale Athletic Association. In 1890 a second Hexham tournament was revived as the Tynedale Open Tournament (allowing women's competitions) that was organised by the Tynedale Lawn Tennis Club. This event ran until 1931 before it was discontinued.

## Location and Venue

Hexham is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administrative centre for the Tynedale district.
Tennis first appeared in Hexham in the early 1880s when a cement court was built in the Hexham Abbey grounds. Tynedale Lawn Tennis Club was founded in 1888 and moved to its present-day location on Priors Flat in 1889, after a leasehold was acquired to lay turf (measuring "an area of 58 yards by 40 yards") for the construction of new tennis courts. In the 1940s, three hard (shale) tennis courts were added; these were replaced by tarmacadam courts in the late 1960s. In 1977 a new Tynedale Sports Club was created, merging the hockey, cricket and tennis sections as one sports club. In 2021 The Tynedale Lawn Tennis Club changed its name to the Hexham Lawn Tennis Club.

## Finals
### Men's Singles

(incomplete roll)
| Year | Winner | Runner-up | Score |
| Hexham Tournament ||||
| 1881 | Jasper Gibson | M. Liddell | 6-0, 6–0, 6–2. |
| 1882 | Jasper Gibson | John Arthur Jackson | 6-0, 6–0, 6–2. |
| Tyndale Open Tournament ||||
| 1908 | Stanley Gate | Frank Widdas | 1-6, 6–1, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2. |

### Women's Singles

(incomplete roll)
| Year | Winner | Runner-up | Score |
| Tyndale Open Tournament ||||
| 1890 | Jane Corder | Helen Jackson | 8-6, 6-0 |
| 1894 | Helen Jackson | Lottie Paterson | 6-3, 6-2 |
| 1895 | Lucy Kendal | B. Jackson | w.o. |
| 1896 | Beatrice Wood Draffen | Lucy Kendal | 6-4, 8-6 |
| 1897 | Lucy Kendal | Miss Lister | 6-0, 6-3 |
| 1898 | Muriel Robb | Mrs Lewis | 2-6, 6–4, 6-2 |
| 1907 | Helen Aitchison | Mrs J.E. Day | divided title |
| 1908 | Mrs J.E. Day | P. Lee | 6-2, 6-1 |
| 1909 | Mabel Hurlbatt Dudgeon | Annie Mack | 7-5. 6-4 |
| 1911 | Mabel Hurlbatt Dudgeon | Mrs Wilkinson | def |
| 1912 | M. Fergus | Miss Walton-Brown | 6-0, 6-1 |
| 1914 | M.E. Morton | Mrs Neilson | 6-4, 6-2 |
| 1915/1919 | Not held (due to world war one) | Not held (due to world war one) | Not held (due to world war one) |
| 1920 | Ruth Watson | Mrs Spoor | 8-6, 6-4 |
| 1921 | M. Hart | Mrs Helps | 3-6, 6–1, 9-7 |
| 1923 | Lesley Cadle | Dorothy Alexander | 6-2, 2–6, 6-2 |
| 1924 | Lesley Cadle | C.D. Shafto | 6-1, 7-5 |
| 1925 | Ruth Watson | Kathleen Aitchison | 10-8. 8-6 |
| 1926 | Ruth Watson | Lesley Cadle | w.o. |
| 1927 | Ruth Watson | Kathleen Aitchison | 6-4, 6-3 |
| 1928 | Ruth Watson | V. March | 7-5, 6-1 |
| 1929 | E. Carrick | V. March | 6-2, 6-1 |
| 1931 | Ruth Watson | Dorothy Alexander | 6-4, 3–6, 6-0 |