Grounds

This section considers some of the major grounds of the Eighteenth Century, that is to say, ones Important Matches or single-wicket matches are recorded as having taken place. As ever, we are at the mercy of the written historical record, there will certainly have been other much used grounds where matches were less prestigious and therefore not recorded. The variety of grounds that we know were used is considerable and below is a list of all such ground.

For me this section is of particular importance, especially when viewed in conjunction with the Cricket Field page of the Gallery. Cricket, I would suggest is a game with great visual appeal and there is no better way to understand the growth of the game from rural pastime to professional sport than to look at the images and visit the locations where it was played and try to soak up the atmosphere. Yes, there was gambling, corruption no doubt, sometimes unruly crowds and elitism off the Richter Scale. But there was also great sport which captivated the public like nothing they had known before. And perhaps in looking at the location, we might just be able to imagine why.¹

The grounds that I have chosen for further consideration are indicated in the table above with a # sign which serves as a link to the detailed page.

	GROUND	Number of double-wicket matches	Number of single-wicket matches	Link
1	The Artillery Ground, Finsbury	140	70	#
2	Dorset Square, Lord’s First Ground, Marylebone	120	24	#
3	Moulsey Hurst	38	10	#
4	Broad Halfpenny Down, Hambledon	32	2	#
5	Dartford Brent, Dartford	30		#
6	Kennington Common, Kennington	30	14	#
7	Laleham Burway Cricket Ground, Laleham Burway	29		#
8	The Vine, Sevenoaks	28	1	#
9	Bourne Paddock, Bishopsbourne	27	5	#
10	Windmill Down, Hambledon	15		#
11	Guildford Bason, Merrow Down	14
12	Stoke Down, Alresford	14	2	#
13	White Conduit Fields, Islington	14	1	#
14	Bromley Common, Bromley	12	1
15	Duppas Hill, Croydon	12
16	Langton Park, Hornchurch	11
17	Richmond Green, Richmond	11		#
18	The Park, Burley-on-the-Hill	10
19	Aram’s New Ground, Montpelier Gardens, Walworth	9	2
20	Odiham Down, Odiham	9
21	Perriam Downs, Luggershall	8
22	Dandelion Paddock, Margate	7
23	Old Field, Bray	6
24	The Downs, Lewes	6
25	The Heath, Blackheath	6	2
26	Holt Pound Cricket Ground, Wrecclesham	5
27	Lamb’s Conduit Fields, Holborn	5	1	#
28	Prince of Wales Ground, Brighton	5
29	Star Inn, Coxheath	5
30	The Common, Henfield	5
31	Addington Hill, Addington	4	1
32	Chislehurst Common, Chislehurst	4
33	Datchet Common, Datchet	4
34	Smitham Bottom	4
35	W Fennex’s New Ground, Uxbridge	4
36	Bullingdon Green, Oxford	3
37	Caterham Common, Caterham	3
38	Duke of Bedford’s Ground, Woburn	3
39	Loughborough	3
40	Penshurst Park, Penshurst	3
41	The Green, Ripley	3
42	The Heath, Coxheath	3
43	Addington Hill, Addington	2
44	Barrack Field, Woolwich	2	2
45	Bowman’s Lodge, Dartford	2
46	Bury Hill, Arundel	2
47	Cambridge	2
48	Chelsea Common, Chelsea	2
49	Hampton Court Green, Hampton Court	2
50	King’s Meadow, Nottingham	2
51	Langley Broom, Langley	2
52	Maidenhead Thicket, Maidenhead	2
53	Maidstone	2
54	Marsh’s New Ground, Rochester	2	2
55	Melton Mowbray	2
56	Mill Mead, Ware	2
57	Mr Brand’s Park, Ware	2
58	Parsons Green	2
59	Racecourse Ground, Swaffham	2
60	Scole Common, Scole	2
61	Sheffield	2
62	Storrington Common	2
63	The Forest New Ground, Nottingham	2	1
64	The Salts, New Romney	2
65	Thursley Green, Thursley	2
66	Tothill Fields, Westminster	2	2
67	Upper Fountain, Deptford	2
68	Walworth Common, Walworth	2	2
69	White Lion Field, Tenterden	2
70	Barrowcliffe Meadow, Leicester	1
71	Benenden Green, Benenden	1
72	Benson Common, Benson	1	1
73	Bridge Hill	1
74	Carshalton Park, Carshalton	1
75	Chapeltown Moor, Leeds	1
76	Charlwood	1
77	Chatham Lines, Chatham	1
78	Cheden Holt, Hambledon	1
79	Chichester	1	2
80	Cobham Park, Cobham	1
81	Coombe Hole, Buckland Valley, Dover	1
82	Court Henry Down, Llandeilo	1
83	Dripping Pan, Lewes	1
84	Dulwich Common, Dulwich	1
85	Durdham Down, Clifton	1
86	Ealing Common, Ealing	1
87	Epping Forest, Epping	1
88	Godalming	1
89	Grays Inn	1
90	Henley-on-Thames	1
91	Hinckley	1
92	Homerton	1
93	Hounslow Heath, Hounslow	1
94	Hull	1
95	Ilford	1
96	Kentish Town	1
97	Kew Green, Kew	1	1	#
98	King’s Park, Stirling	1
99	Knotty Green, Beaconsfield	1
100	Lindfield Common, Lindfield	1
101	Little Marlow	1
102	Littlebourne Recreation Ground, Littlebourne	1
103	Long Down, Eartham	1
104	Malling	1
105	North Green, Reading	1
106	Northchapel Green, Northchapel	1
107	Old County Ground, Town Malling	1
108	Peasmarsh	1
109	Peckham Rye Common, Peckham Rye	1
110	Penenden Heath, Penenden	1
111	Peperharow	1
112	Petworth Park, Petworth	1
113	Priestwood Common, Priestwood	1
114	Putney Heath, Putney	1
115	Race Course, Bury St Edmunds	1	1
116	Race Course, Romford	1
117	Sanderstead Common, Sanderstead	1
118	Sanderstead Downs, Sanderstead	1
119	Stamford Hill	1
120	Stanmore Common, Stanmore	1
121	Stanstead Marsh, Stanstead	1
122	Stansted Park, Westbourne	1
123	Stoke’s Corner, Guildford	1
124	Strood	1
125	Sunbury Common, Sunbury	1
126	Swanscombe Park, Swanscombe	1
127	The County Ground, Frankwell, Shrewsbury	1
128	The Cricket Green, Mitcham	1
129	The Crown, Billericay	1
130	The Green, Bearsted	1
131	The Green, Navestock Side	1
132	The Grove, Hythe	1
133	The Nythe, Alresford	1
134	The Old Park, Canterbury	1
135	Timothy Drury’s Paddock, Gravesend	1
136	Titchbourne Down, Alresford	1
137	Valdo Corner, Goodwood	1
138	Westerham Heath, Westerham	1
139	Wheatsheaf Common	1
140	Wingham	1
141	Barnes Common, Barnes	1
	Other		94
	not known	15	8
Total		845	252

Cricket though, was generally played on available open areas, rather that a enclosed grassed area as is the case now. The wickets were generally pitched wherever seemed most suitable, there was no equivalent to the modern ultra-prepared square. Neither were there any boundaries, presumably there was little prospect that the ball would be hit beyond the field. For all that, many of the fields where cricket was first played survive and visiting them, perhaps even to see a game in progress, is one way of experiencing a link with cricket of the ancient past of our great game. I would recommend it.

The best illustration of the appeal of cricket grounds I have heard was given by former England Captain Mike Brealey at a literature festival. Asked to bring along a passage about cricket to read out, he surprisingly picked something from DH Lawrence – chapter 2 of Sons and Lovers. In this chapter, Mrs Morkel is disgusted by her husband’s attitude to her new baby boy; she takes the baby for a walk in his pram and rests by a cricket field to think matters through. Brealey said that such is the magic of cricket field, the scene would not have worked with say, a football or rugby field. I think he made an excellent point. ↩︎

https://archive.acscricket.com/cricket_grounds/index.html