The Colwyn Bay Open and later known as the Colwyn Bay Open Hard Court Tennis Tournament was men's and women's

grass court A grass court is one of the types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis, originally known as "lawn tennis", is played. Grass courts are made of grasses in different compositions depending on the tournament. While grass courts are more tra ...

tennis tournament founded in 1886 as the Colwyn Bay Open Lawn Tennis Tournament. It was first played on Pwyllycrochan Park Estate,

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay () is a town, Community (Wales), community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic counties of Wales, historic county boundaries of Denbighshire (h ...

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthi ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. The tournament was staged annually until 1930 when it was discontinued. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the tournament was revived in 1949 and continued till 1959 when it was abolished.

History

In August 1886 the Colwyn Bay Open Lawn Tennis Tournament was established. The early editions were played on the Pwllycrochan Estate on the former grounds of a mansion house that was turned into a hotel in 1866 called the Pwllycrochan Hotel. Play at the hotel was conducted on a combination of hard clay and grass tennis courts in the grounds of the hotel. In 1890 the tournament was moved to the newly opened Colwyn Bay Lawn Club grounds at Princes Drive. After tournament had moved the event was played on grass courts. In 1919 the club was looking for a new venue as it had outgrown its facilities. In 1921 the local council purchased 50 acres of land at Eirias Park. The first 27 acres were bought by the council on April 12, 1921, and the remainder in 1929. Colwyn Bay Tennis club were granted a new ground formally opened by

Frederick Smith, 1st Baron Colwyn Frederick Henry Smith, 1st Baron Colwyn (24 January 1859 – 26 January 1946), known as Sir Frederick Smith, 1st Baronet, from 1912 to 1917, was a British manufacturer, investor and banking executive. He was an influential Liberal figure in ...

in 1921 and moved there. By 1933 the facilities had been expanded to include eight clay courts. The tournament continued to be staged until 1939 when it was discontinued due to World War II. In 1949 the tournament resumed and also featured a junior open event for the first time. In 1959 the senior event was discontinued as part of the

ILTF Circuit The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the Sports governing body, governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve List of national tennis ass ...

. However the junior event did carry on until as late as 1986. In 2003 the tennis grounds at Eirias Park were renamed as the James Alexander Barr Tennis Centre. By this time the clay courts had been replaced by four outdoor hard courts and included 2 indoor hard tennis courts.Bay of Colwyn Town Council

References

{{Reflist, 2

External links

Photo of Eirias Park tennis courts c. late 1920s early 1930s by Colwyn Bay Heritage Group.

LTA: James Alexander Barr Tennis Centre Eirias Park.
Defunct tennis tournaments in the United Kingdom Clay court tennis tournaments Grass court tennis tournaments Tennis tournaments in Wales