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Up'ards against Down'ards, and the brook between.
See it clearly
Street game through Ashbourne on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. Shops board up; spectators take care.
Hundreds of bodies in one scrum, a painted ball, and a town split by a brook.
Every Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, Ashbourne plays Royal Shrovetide Football. Two teams, the Up'ards and the Down'ards, traditionally decided by which side of the Henmore Brook you were born on, try to goal a ball at mill sites three miles apart. Ashbourne Town Council cites a 1683 poem by Charles Cotton as an early reference. The game became 'Royal' after Princess Mary was given a ball in 1922. In 2026 the Up'ards won 3–0. The BBC reported goals by Craig Brown, Josh Redfern and Ben Sellers.