Read can boast that it is the only club in the League with continuous unbroken membership since the foundation in 1891. Tradition says that the making of the cricket field was started in the Great Strike of 1878. A club historian writing in a 1939 booklet said that "Men in 1939 could clearly remember the present ground being a meadow with a great hole in the middle". The first match recorded by the Burnley Advertiser was of Read second XI versus Lowerhouse Colts at Read on 6th July, 1878. In the mid 1880's the farmer adjacent to the ground antagonized the villages by building a barn in the north west corner of the cricket field, taking advantage of the absence on holiday of the landowners, the Forts of Read Hall. This barn, which used to provide some shade on hot days for spectators, has now been pulled down but the short boundary has caused headaches for captains placing their fieldsmen ever since.

The bowling green was laid about 1909. In 1919 there was reconstruction of the ground following dilapidation during the war years, so that no cricket was played and Read missed its only season. In 1923 came the tennis courts (on the site of the present pavilion), the old tearoom was erected and part of the field was redrained. With scant resources and a village population of less than a thousand, Read had few successes until in 1949, just before the strong clubs such as Blackpool, Leyland, Lancaster left to form the Northern League, the first championship was won. The skipper, Harry Haworth, village blacksmith, joiner and undertaker, was a tough character who did not believe in "tey party cricket" but was immensely popular. Professional Jack Dyson from over the hill at Sabden, fast bowler and legendary figure, once hit a ball on to the then Co-operative Shop roof on Fort Street, arguable the greatest hit ever made at Read. And during 1949 a youngster Peter Fairclough made his debut. He was to prove the mainstay of the Read batting for the next 25 years and more. The championship was celebrated by flags and buntings’ streaming from every house and a video exists of the highlight of the final triumph and the massed crowds welcoming home their heroes from the nail biting 5 run win at Settle.

During the 1950's Club President, Richard Fort, MP was tragically killed. A band of dedicated supporters raised enough money to buy the land from Mrs. Fort, ensuring the continuity of cricket for future generations. The League Trophy was won again in 1957, when it was shared with Earby. The captain now was Ronnie Stevenson, a man of fanatical determination. In 1961 the title was won outright with Tommy Lowe as professional, and again in 1964 when the professional was the popular West Indian Rupert Jackman. Outstanding amongst the amateurs in this vintage period was villager Richard Goodway whose loyalty, sportsmanship, brilliant stroke play and fielding have delighted Read supporters and still do.

The 1970's were vintage years for the club. 1972 saw Read achieve the double under Ernie Sumner. The league was won without a defeat: Played 22, Won 14, Drawn 8, Lost 0, Points 64 - 22 clear of Blackburn Northern in second place. The cup was won without professional Alan Worsick. His 86 wickets the following season ensured a second successive championship. A second double came in 1975, this time incredibly without a professional, an unparalleled feat in the League's history. John Waddington was the enterprising captain and Frank Newby's incredible economical bowling (8 overs, 6 maidens, 10 runs, 2 wickets) helped beat Barnoldswick in the Ramsbottom Cup Final.

The groundsman during these halcyon years was a colourful village character, diminutive in stature but highly vociferous when supporting his team Jack Wade. During this period the Haig National Village Cup Competition created great interest and the team had a tremendous following. Of many famous battles, the most worthy of recall is the quarter-final match 1974 versus Bomersund of Northumberland, who narrowly beat Read and went on to win the Final at Lord's. The crowd, estimated at 2,000, was the largest anyone could remember at Read. The highest scoring game was at Woodhouses (Manchester) in 1975. Read scored 260, losing their last four wickets in four balls with two overs to spare. Woodhouses also scored 260, taking the last run with a leg bye off the last ball of the match and winning by virtue of having fewer wickets down. In 1977 in another last-ball thriller against Warton, wicketkeeper Peter Grainger scored the winning run after failing to connect with the previous two balls!

A new tea room had been erected in 1964 and in 1975 under the imaginative chairmanship of the club president, Derek Birchall, a new pavilion was built and opened by the Lancashire Chairman Cedric Rhoades and Lancashire and England batsman Cyril Washbrook. The club's centenary in 1978 saw the opening of a new scoreboard and was celebrated by a match against David Lloyd's Lancashire XI which included Clive Lloyd, Jack Simmons and David Hughes.

The championship was won in 1979 under the astute captaincy of the present Chairman, David Rigby, and with the talented Australian Barry Curtin as professional. The second XI under Frank Newby won the Division 1 title and the Lawrenson Cup in 1979 to make it a truly vintage year. The only trophies in the 1980's were a second successive Lawrenson Cup win in 1980 and the Ramsbottom Cup won at Cherry Tree in 1987 under the captaincy of Michael Georgeson with Graham Bushell as professional. Malcolm Grainger, village baker and erstwhile groundsman and odd-job man was chosen as Ribblesdale League Clubman of the Year, the award presented by Jim Laker.

In the winter of 1995 the Club brought in as Chairman an outsider from Rishton Wilf Woodhouse  who had been Chairman at Rishton C.C. for the last 15 years. During the following Seasons the club won the Ramsbottom Cup and the Lewis Cup in 1996, and were Division 2 champions in 1995 and 1997. Nick Marsh set a new club batting record of 794 runs in 1995. In 2000, Read won the Ramsbottom Cup by defeating home club Cherry Tree. Professional Peter Sleep took 1-11 from 10 overs and then hit 52 to take Read past their target. Oliver Newby won the 'Man of the Match' award for his spell of 3-30. Sleep in his second and final year as professional hit a club record 1411 league runs. The club won the Lawrenson Cup in 2001.After a break of 23 Years the clubs recent run of success was again to the fore by lifting the League Championship under the captaincy of Warren Eastham in his first year at the helm in Season 2003. In the following season the club had it's most successful to date with 5 out of the 6 teams lifting a Trophy, The first X1 did the double by defeating Gt Harwood in the Cup Final in a high scoring game at Padiham and by lifting the league title a double was again achieved. T Little broke N Marsh's club batting record by scoring 800 runs for the season.  

With a rapidly developing youth policy, Read Cricket Club looks confidently ahead to further successes in the future.

In season 2004 Read carried on with it's winning ways by lifting the league title again, making it 3 championship's in succession, a feat not done for over 60 years.

Updated from Alan West's One Hundred Years of the Ribblesdale Cricket League