The club as it is today was formed in 1992 with just 4 members.  We now have over 150.  The original Thirsk Bowmen was set up July 3rd 1824. We don't know exactly where their shooting ground was but we do have a link to their original rules of shooting which was sold at Bonhams Auction House in 2007 for £192. Many of these rules are still very familiar today.  The following excerpt appeared in the archery Blog "The infinite Curve" in 2014.

• The official ‘season’ was outdoor only and ran from the first Tuesday in May to the last Tuesday in September. Only gentlemen were allowed, and the cost per year was ten shillings and sixpence – approximate cost relative to wages in 2014: around £400. No word about indoor shooting.

• Shooting was permitted on Tuesdays and Fridays starting at 5 o’clock. All arrows had to be marked with their owners initials or they did not score – a rule that persists in the UK and worldwide.

• Every Tuesday archers shot nine dozen arrows – four dozen at 100 yards, three dozen at 80 yards, and two dozen at 60 yards. (A similar imperial round called a St. George, which has three dozen at each distance, is still shot in the UK). Maximum score using five zone scoring would be 972. Archers shot three arrow ends. Given that sunset in May in Yorkshire is around 8pm, they would have to get moving pretty quickly to get the round in before dusk.

• The highest score each week would be made ‘captain of the target’, and get to hold a silver medal for the week. To encourage all archers, a handicap system existed – if you had won once in a season, you got four points removed from your score for the next and all subsequent weeks – twice in a season, eight points removed; three times, sixteen points and so on.

• These Tuesday shoots were compulsory – unless you could prove you were at least ten miles outside of Thirsk, you were fined sixpence (relatively, about £20) for every shoot you missed! Swearing incurred a similar penalty. Turning up without all your equipment incurred a stiffer fine of a shilling (about £40).

• Every year in September there was a ‘Grand Annual Meeting’. The highest score of the day would receive a silver bugle and the title ‘Captain Of The Year’, the best gold (nearest the centre) would receive a silver arrow and the title ‘Lieutenant Of The Year’ – and the last place finisher would receive a ‘Wooden Spoon’ and the title ‘Master Of The Green’. Yes, that’s right – archery puns haven’t improved much in the past 170 years.

• Gambling on results was clearly a problem – the rules go into some detail about not letting betting corrupt the ‘manly amusement’, and a rule existed that any wagers discovered would have to be forfeited to club funds – although sweepstakes of up to five shillings (about £200) were allowed with prior permission of the Secretary.

 

 

In 1843 The Thirsk Bowmen club secretary, William Gray, was instrumental in the creation of the York round and the GNAM both of which still run today.

 

During the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) archery – like many other aspects of public life in England – came to a near complete stop. The Royal British Bowmen, founded in 1787, and the Royal Toxophilite Society count among the few societies that lasted through it and were still in existence in the 1820s and 1830s. King George’s successors King William IV (reigned 1830-1837) and Queen Victoria (reigned 1837-1901) upheld the tradition of royal patronage over selected archery societies. On the occasion of her accession to the throne in 1837 the latter even endowed a prize, the Royal Victoria Challenge Prize, and appointed a Master of Archery for the royal household.Attempts by individual archers, the few remaining societies, and their patrons, to re-establish the sport in England once more led to the tentative idea of having national meetings or even championships. Only in 1843, however, had English archery recovered enough for those ambitions to become anything more than pie in the sky. In that year one William Gray, Hon Sec of the Thirsk Bowmen, started correspondence with a number of leading and well-known archers of other societies, discussing the idea of an annual competition for all archers within the UK. Gray’s efforts eventually led to the first Grand National Archery Meeting being held in York in 1844. Rules of shooting had been the subject of prolonged and intense debate before, until it was agreed to shoot six dozen arrows at 100 yards, four dozen at 80 yards, and two dozen at 60 yards. The mark was to be a target face in the Prince’s Colours. This mode of shooting thus became known as the York round, and has remained the standard form for national competitions in target archery ever since. Some meetings, however, will shoot a Double York round over the course of two days, scores of both rounds added up to determine the winner – after shooting 288 arrows in total, over three different distances.