Hightown
Batley (Liversedge), West Yorkshire, England
Hightown, Batley (Liversedge), England — opened Not confirmed, 41 rugby league games hosted, home of Liversedge — a founding member of the Northern Union (1895), one of 22 clubs represented at the breakaway meeting at the George Hotel, Huddersfield; remained in the league through the 1901-02 season before dropping out.
Sourcing caveat: This is the least-confirmed venue written up so far: a direct source conflict (Hightown vs. Littletown) remains unresolved, and capacity, floodlights, surface, and the ground's own opening date are all unconfirmed. Flagged explicitly for any future researcher with access to primary sources (e.g. British Newspaper Archive) to resolve.
Ground facts
| Opened | Not confirmed (This venue's identity itself is not cleanly confirmed. A Dewsbury Rams RLFC history article states Liversedge 'played at a field in Hightown' and quotes their 1895 Northern Union opening fixture as played 'at Hightown' (Wigan won 3-0) — but a direct WebFetch verification of Wikipedia's Liversedge RFC (Rugby League) article states only that the club 'played at Littletown,' with no mention of Hightown at all. This is a genuine, unresolved conflict between two sources, not picked one way. What supports the Hightown/Liversedge connection: this site's own pre-existing venue directory lists 'Hightown' with first/last-used years of 1895-1901 — matching Liversedge's Northern Union tenure exactly (founding member in 1895, dropped out after finishing last in 1901-02) — which is suggestive corroboration, though not conclusive, since it doesn't independently verify the ground's name.) |
| Home club | Liversedge — a founding member of the Northern Union (1895), one of 22 clubs represented at the breakaway meeting at the George Hotel, Huddersfield; remained in the league through the 1901-02 season before dropping out |
| Games hosted (rugby league, on record) | 41 |
| Top recorded crowd | 0 |
| Years used | 1895–1901 |
| Location | Batley (Liversedge), West Yorkshire |
Name history
- Hightown — not confirmed as the ground's only or correct name — see opened_caveat; Littletown and Hightown are both real, separate places in the Liversedge/Spen Valley area, so it's possible the club used more than one ground over its history, or one source is simply mistaken
Rugby league history
A genuinely obscure, likely long-defunct ground connected with the historic Liversedge Northern Union club, one of the founding clubs of the 1895 breakaway that created what became rugby league. Liversedge and Batley are neighbouring towns in the Spen Valley/Heavy Woollen district of West Yorkshire (this site's own directory lists the town as 'Batley (Liversedge)'), but no source found confirms any direct institutional link — merger, feeder-club relationship, or shared ground — between this venue and Batley RLFC/Batley Bulldogs specifically; a loose regional association is plausible but unconfirmed. No connection was found to modern Batley-area amateur/junior rugby league, which plays from a different venue (Banks Street, Batley). No dedicated Rugby League Project venue page could be located for 'Hightown'.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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