Queerditch Marsh was a marsh located near Manchester. It was famous as the site at which the sport that eventually evolved into Quidditch was first played. In the 11th century, Gertie Keddle, a witch who lived near the marsh, recorded in her diary about how local witches and wizards had been playing a new broomstick-mounted game. As described in her diary, the game featured a leather ball (an early Quaffle), flying rocks (early Bludgers), and the idea of passing the leather ball to each other, then trying to score points by throwing the ball into the trees at the end of the marsh (early forms of goal posts).