Barley Mow
Leeds (Bramley), West Yorkshire, England
Barley Mow, Leeds (Bramley), England — opened 1881, 1,115 rugby league games hosted, home of None (Bramley R.L.F.C. moved to McLaren Field in 1965; Barley Mow itself was subsequently redeveloped as housing).
Sourcing caveat: Opening year is disputed between sources (1881 vs 1890 vs 1891) — see opened_caveat. No capacity figure for the ground could be confirmed in sources found, so it is omitted rather than guessed.
Ground facts
| Opened | 1881 (Sources disagree on the exact year Bramley RLFC moved to Barley Mow: Wikipedia's dedicated 'Barley Mow, Bramley' article and the 'Bramley R.L.F.C.' infobox both give 1881 (two years after the club's 1879 founding), while the same Bramley R.L.F.C. article's prose separately states the move was 'in 1890', and a third source (Drop Kick Books) gives 1891. This write-up uses 1881 as the better-corroborated figure (matching the dedicated ground article and the infobox) and flags the conflicting 1890/1891 figures rather than silently picking one.) |
| Home club | None (Bramley R.L.F.C. moved to McLaren Field in 1965; Barley Mow itself was subsequently redeveloped as housing) |
| Closed | 1965 |
| Site today | Modern housing now occupies the site of the pitch and the adjoining Barley Mow public house that served as changing rooms. |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 1,115 |
| Top recorded crowd | 6,000 |
| Test matches hosted | 1 |
| First rugby league match | Bramley's home fixtures from 1881 (exact opening fixture not identified in sources found) |
| Last rugby league match | Bramley relocated to the newly built McLaren Field in 1965 after roughly 84 years at Barley Mow |
| Years used | 1897–1965 |
| Location | Leeds (Bramley), West Yorkshire |
Name history
- Barley Mow — 1881–1965 (named for the adjoining Barley Mow public house, used as changing rooms)
Rugby league history
Barley Mow's defining moment came on 9 October 1907, when Bramley became the first English club side to host the touring New Zealand 'All Golds' — the tour that helped establish rugby league in the Southern Hemisphere. A blue plaque was unveiled at the Barley Mow pub in 2007 to mark the centenary. The ground's best-known international mismatch came on 9 November 1921, when the touring Australian Kangaroos beat Bramley 92-7, long cited as the heaviest score by an Australian touring side against a club opponent. Bramley's highest recorded Barley Mow attendance was 12,600 for a match against Leeds on 7 May 1947. The club left in 1965 for the newly built McLaren Field on adjacent land; McLaren Field was itself demolished in 1995 after safety concerns the financially struggling club could not afford to fix, and is now housing.
Historic Test matches, Cup & Grand Finals hosted
- 9 October 1907 — Bramley 6-25 New Zealand ('All Golds'), attendance over 6,000 — the first-ever club match played by a Northern Union side against a touring New Zealand team
Pre-dates the site's structured match-by-match records for these competitions, so listed here as sourced facts rather than linked match pages.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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