Last night I went home and asked my 16 year old daughter about the game. I described the historical form and asked her if she played it.

"Oh yes", she said "that's Circle-E". She explained it was so-called because of the circle painted on the Ashwell School playground which they used for the game. She didn't know "hell" nor the name "Barley Break" (which is a pity, I think) but she did say it was "an Ashwell game" in the sense that it wan't played in her other schools (at Letchworth or Baldock), both nearby, but both small town schools.

By the way "Prisoner's Base", which my older children called "Homey" is now called "Dungeons and Dragons", according to Caroline.

:-)