Lowerhouse Cricket Club is proud to have been selected as one of the first clubs to take part in an exciting heritage project led by Lancashire Cricket’s Heritage Manager, Alex Cropper.
The project aims to capture and preserve the stories of grassroots cricket across Lancashire, celebrating the clubs, volunteers and communities that have shaped the game for generations. Rather than using traditional displays, the project has recorded oral histories, and commissioned an artwork for each of the 5 pilot clubs, creating a lasting record of each club’s unique story.
Earlier this year, Alex visited Lowerhouse Cricket Club to record an interview with lifelong Lowerhouse supporter Anne Cochrane, discussing the club’s remarkable history, what cricket has meant to generations of players and supporters, the role Lowerhouse CC has played within the local community, and some of the defining moments that have shaped the club.
Anne explained how she became fascinated with the social history of the club after taking possession of the club’s small archive of historical documents from her late father, Jack. She realised that they were a treasure trove of information on the club and the local community, and this, together with an existing interest in local working class history turned into a hobby. Keen to share her enthusiasm for the club’s history, she started researching and writing about it for the club’s website and also digitising the archive to make it available to everyone.
The club’s digital archive has become one of the most comprehensive historical records of any cricket club in the country, ensuring that the stories of players, volunteers and members and the significant role Lowerhouse played in the Lancashire textile industry will be available for future generations.
The artwork was created by Jamie Rennie, better known as JME-DZYNZ, a well-known graffiti artist from the Old Trafford area. Jamie transformed Anne’s stories about Lowerhouse, club and community, into a stunning visual timeline of the club’s journey, vibrantly capturing the story of Lowerhouse CC from 1862 to now, in a style perhaps reminiscent of L.S. Lowry.
The finished piece imagines the story of Lowerhouse from its very beginnings. It starts with the terraced streets of the village and workers making their way to the mill before depicting Mr Dugdale overlooking the transformation of the field into a cricket ground alongside one of the club’s earliest cricketers wearing the famous Garibaldi red shirt. The centre of the painting celebrates the sports days that helped finance the club, complete with a brass band, refreshments and athletics, while the lower section links the devastating club room fire of 1949 with today’s Bonfire Night celebrations before culminating in a modern Lowerhouse side lifting silverware.
Alex recently returned to the club to present the artwork to the club on behalf of Lancashire Cricket. The original painting will now remain at Lowerhouse Cricket Club, while a digital version will form part of the Lancashire Cricket museum being created at Old Trafford documenting the history of cricket across the county.
We are incredibly grateful to Alex Cropper and Lancashire Cricket for choosing Lowerhouse to be part of this pilot project. Anne says it has been a pleasure and a privilege to have our history recognised in this way and to contribute to a wider record of the clubs and communities that have made Lancashire cricket what it is today.
Lowerhouse Painting – Notes from the Artist
I hope that I have captured the main elements of the story told by Ann. This painting has an trail of history going through it.
I have made sure to capture the starting point of Lowerhouse with a view of the village streets leading up to the mill, that the Dugdale family owned. A trail of people from the village are going to work and Mr Dugdale is looking onto the Cricket Field. The Printworks/Calico chimney is visible behind and in the distance.
The painting moves on to the idea of the mill workers actually digging the ground. The worker character has a shuttle in his hand. Next to him is one of the early cricketers, wearing the Garibaldi red.
I have then gone on to try and capture the idea that the club was effectively financed by its annual sports days and events; alluded to by the tea party tent with some ladies serving tea, and an athletics race going on in the background with the brass band playing.
The lower part of the design captures a historical character wearing a flat cap next to a modern character wearing a baseball cap. This is in essence the rebuild of the club from the burning down of the pavilion to the modern-day large-scale bonfire events that they host.
The final section covers Lowerhouse’s recent cricketing successes.
You can also read Lancashire Cricket Foundations Blog Post on the initiative here: https://foundation.lancashirecricket.co.uk/news/2026-news/heritage-oral-history-project-celebrating-lancashire-cricket-clubs/
Take a look through the photographs below, including the presentation of the artwork by Alex Cropper to Anne Cochrane and a closer look at the finished piece.
