Long Alley Skittles

One of the great old traditional skittles games of England, the play of Long Alley Skittles is largely restricted to the counties of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. The game's primary characteristic is that the large cheeses must bounce just once before crashing into the pins and, where the unique barrel shaped cheeses are used, the skilful player can can thus confer some unusual angles of attack.

Leicestershire Long Alley Skittles

Nottinghamshire / Derbshire Long Alley Skittles

Our Notts/Derby Long Alley pins and balls are made by an experienced turner in an appropriate hardwood suitably dried for the purpose. The base of each pin is strengthened with a metal ferrel. Pins are

Pins are approximately 85 x 330mm, kingpin 395mm high. Balls are approximately 5.5 inches diameter. NOTE: These pins are supplied untreated so that people can deal with them in the way they wish. The most common treatment is to soak the pins in Linseed oil for up to a week, before beginning to play with them and this is what Masters Traditional Games recommends.

Made in Britain

Change to $ Change to C	UK pounds (ex.VAT)	Pounds (incl. VAT)	Typical ETA in wkg days	Add to basket
8 Hardwood Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire Long Alley skittles + Kingpin	£156.51	£183.90	12 + transit time
3 Hardwood Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire Long Alley Balls	£176.09	£206.90	20 + transit time

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The Origin of Skittles

Skittles, or Nine Pins, as played in an alley has always been a popular pub game and is the ancestor of related games including ten-pin bowling and various indoor skittles variations.  The origins of the game are uncertain but in Germany, in the 3rd or 4th century, monks played a game with a kegel which was a club carried for self defence.  In the game, the kegel represented a sin or temptation and the monks would throw stones at it until they knocked it over.  The modern German term for skittles is Kegelen.  There are also two 14th century manuscripts that show a game called Kayles and depict throwers about to launch a long club-like object at eight pins and a kingpin.

The typical form of Skittles is wherein balls are thrown or rolled from one end of an alley in an effort to knock down nine pins at the other end.  Over the years, Skittles developed regional variations in the size of equipment, the rules and so forth.  In the East Midlands, people play Long Alley in which the projectiles are rough balls or small capsule shaped logs called "cheeses" and a score is only made if the cheeses bounce a single time just in front of the pins.  Old English Skittles or London Skittles, as played at the famous Freemasons Arms in Hampstead, is a majestic game in which enormous discus-shaped cheeses are flung so that they hit the skittles directly without touching the floor first. 

From these old games, various miniaturised versions appeared which were more convenient for many pubs with limited space. These include Northamptonshire Skittles and the extremely popular Table Skittles or Devil Amongst The Tailors.

The most popular version of skittles, however, is West Country Skittles wherein 9 skittles are arranged in a square at the end of an alley that might be 24 feet, sometimes much longer.  Each turn starts with all the skittles standing and consists of three balls being rolled down the alley.  If all the pins are knocked down, then they are reset.  So the maximum score in one turn is 27.

You can learn more about the History of Skittles from The Online Guide to Traditional Games.

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