TODAY we take a step back in time and feature one of the most famous cricket clubs in the whole of Lancashire, whose ground lies at the very heart of history.

The men in whites in the picture are the cricketers of Whalley CC and face the camera in 1902, which was a controversial season as they - and for the only time in their history - did not compete in the Ribblesdale League.

In that year they were expelled from the competition for failing to accept new league rules - but they were welcomed back into the fold the following season when they won the championship.

They had been founder members of the league in 1892 and won the title in 1895 and 1898 and in the early part of the 20th century they were the powerhouses of the competition.

Their Station Road ground, still used to this day, saw its first game in 1864, when Whalley played an All-England Eleven.

Three years later the ground held the only first-class match to be played there, between Lancashire played Yorkshire in what was the first Roses Match. Yorkshire won this first fixture by an innings and 56 runs, with Lancashire's Arthur Appleby taking the first five wicket haul in the match with 6-62 in Yorkshire's first-innings, but he surpassed by Yorkshire's George Freeman who took 7-10 in Lancashire first-innings and 5-41 in their follow-on.