IT arrived in Scotland 1500 years ago with the Gaelic language, and the Scottish Gaels took the game of shinty with them as they travelled to the four corners of the earth.

However, this weekend's most intriguing tie will take place on the southern tip of England, many hundreds of miles away from shinty's Scottish heartland.

The popular venues of Kingussie and Newtonmore, Oban and Tichnabruaich will take a back seat as a showcase game is played out on Saturday on the village green in Flax Bourton in  the south-west of England.

A team representing the Duchy of Cornwall will take the field to face a London-based side after an absence which could date back as much as 300 years.

The last time a Cornwall team played was in front of George I against County Wexford, with the away team drowning on their return journey to Ireland.

Now, to celebrate the Queen's Birthday, the newly founded Cornwall Shinty Club will play London Camanachd this weekend. Cornwall will also enter a team in St Andrews University's six-a-side tournament next month.

The fact shinty was played in Cornwall will surprise some, but according to Matt Mossop, the archaeologist who has helped set up Cornwall Shinty Club, it was played there even during the 20th century.

Mr Mossop, who is from Devon, learned the game at St Andrews University, where the late Douglas Lowe of The Herald was a founding father of the team.

He is now making a study of the game in Cornwall.

Mr Mossop said: "There is a lot of oral tradition about it being played here. There was a chap in the pub we go to after a game, when he heard the word shinty he said he remembered playing with a piece of coal in Penryn back in the 1960s.

"We have found a quote saying: 'Most people will not know that shinty was one of the most popular games in Cornwall until the 1920s when it almost died out ... they were once the champions of the sport.' We are not sure who said it yet.

"We don't know if there ever was a Cornwall club. The last documented competitive game a team representing Cornwall played in was for George I against hurling players of Wexford.

"As far as I remember the Irish won the game, but their boat sank on the way back and they were all drowned."

However, he said he had met some people who played it in schools in the county up to the 1970s and 1980s.

Mr Mossop said: "I think what had happened is although it had petered out elsewhere you had Scots coming down to work at certain schools who brought the game with them."

Shinty historian and broadcaster Dr Hugh Dan MacLennan said we should not be surprised at the Cornwall connection.

He said: "We have a lot in common with our Celtic cousins in Cornwall. Shinty was played from St Kilda to St Ives. The pitches could be two miles long or a fraction of that, and the rules could vary from one village to its neighbour.

"Nobody should be surprised at the chances of stumbling on shinty in England. Many people would recognise the game as the English variant of Bandy, which is a stick and ball game with a very real and rich tradition in many parts of the country.

"Nottingham Forest was formed in 1865 and was originally a Bandy club. It's virtually shinty in everything but name and was maintained as a separate tradition, being particularly strong during the 19th century."

He said exiled Gaels continued to play shinty in England, with both Manchester United's Old Trafford and Chelsea's Stamford Bridge used as venues.