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Dartford Brent, Kent
Dartford Brent (pictured) was an extensive area of common land on the outskirts of Dartford in Kent. Part of Dartford Brent was a cricket venue in the 18th century and it was very possibly used for cricket before than. It was noted for the quality of its turf, which was said to be “as smooth as a bowling green”. Dartford Cricket Club still plays in the Kent Cricket League and its present ground at Hesketh Park is on another part of the Brent.
The earliest known inter-county match took place there on 29 June 1709 when a Kent side and one from Surrey played against each other and there are records of several similar matches held on the Brent between then and 1724.
A total of eight First Class matches played on the ground between 1792 and 1794; games in Dartford after 1795 were played at Bowman’s Lodge on nearby Dartford Heath until Hesketh Park opened in 1904, although the Brent was used for occasional matches.
Kennington Common, London
Kennington Common was a swathe of common land mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth. It was one of the earliest venues for cricket around London, with matches played between 1724 and 1785.
Kennington Common is now incorporated into Kennington Park, within three hundred yards of the Oval.
Laleham Burway, Surrey
A very important ground, home of Chertsey Cricket Club, is one whose location is all but lost. It staged 29 Important Matches, including the first First Class match between two counties, Surrey v Kent in 1773. It was also the scene of the wide bat incident, involving Thomas White, playing for Chertsey – the home club – against Hambledon in September 1771. Chertsey Cricket Club still exists, though cricket ceased at Laleham Burway in 1784.
Laleham is a village on the Thames, not far from where the M25 intersects with the M3. Laleham Burway is a tract of water meadow close by. Kit Harris, Assistant Editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, has written this excellent article which offers three candidates for the location of the ground with this tract and nominates the one that seems more likely, that is to say, the highest lying one; it is a simple agricultural field today (pictured).
Bourne Paddock, Bishopsbourne, Kent
Bourne Paddock was a cricket ground at Bourne Park House, the seat of Sir Horatio Mann, at Bishopsbourne around 4 miles south-east of Canterbury in the English county of Kent. Bourne Paddock is first mentioned in an item in the Kentish Weekly Post describing a recent match involving Mann’s own Bourne Cricket Club and Dartford Cricket Club in September 1766. Bourne Cricket Club effectively represented Kent during the late 18th century and attracted large crowds to the ground. A total of 17 first class matches played on the ground between 1766 and 1790.
It was a match here in 1773 that inspired the famous poem Surrey Triumphant: Or the Kentish-Men’s Defeat.
The ground was within the grounds of Bourne Park House. Bourne Paddock reverted to a sheep field but its fame lingered on and games were staged there the ground in the 1920s and 30s. One regular player was the novelist Alec Waugh (brother of Evelyn), who had moved into the Bishopsbourne house previously occupied by the village’s most famous resident, Joseph Conrad. The ground at Bourne House was still occasionally used towards the end of the 20th century but the local Bishopsbourne team opted to play at the ground on the adjoining Charlton Park estate. Today the only remnants cricket at Bourne Paddock are the old wooden pavilion and a rusting iron roller (left of the main house)
The Vine, Sevenoaks, Kent
The Vine’s earliest known use was for a match between a Kent team organised by Lord John Sackville against one from Sussex on Friday 6 September 1734, a game which Kent won. A fixture was played to mark the bicentenary of the occasion in 1934.
28 Important Matches were played there in the Eighteenth Century. A total of 24 matches which were given retrospective first-class cricket status were played on the ground between 1773 and 1829. These include nine matches between Hampshire sides and England and 11 matches featuring Kent sides as the home team.
The first recorded century in any form of cricket was scored on the ground in 1769, John Minshull scoring 107 runs for a Duke of Dorset’s XI against Wrotham, a match rated as Important, but not First Class. Minshull, a professional employed as a gardener by John Sackville, was also the first player known to be given out hit wicket, again at The Vine, in 1773.
Sevenoaks Vine is still a functioning cricket club, putting out four senior elevens and playing on the historic field.
Stoke Down, Hampshire
Stoke Down is a rural location near the town of Alresford in Hampshire. It was used as a venue for 13 first-class cricket matches between 1778 and 1806 and as the home of the Alresford Cricket Club. Stoke Down is first referenced as the venue for the Hambledon Club v Hambledon Parish match in May 1778 and it soon became a home venue for Hambledon and Hampshire cricket. In 1782 however, Hambledon moved to Windmill Down and while they continued to use Stoke Down occasionally, its importance declined. It staged cricket into the 19th century but was not used for major games. In the late 18th century it was also the home for Arlesford Cricket Club, one of the most important sides in the land. The ground was incorporated into Itchin Down Farm, (pictured).
Lamb’s Conduit Fields, London
Lamb’s Conduit Field was used for the third and fifth important matches which took place in 1707. It also staged two Important Matches in 1736. The field was used for building the Foundling Hospital in 1739, an establishment which looked after abandoned babies and was founded by William Coram.
The hospital relocated in the 1920s, the existing building became a museum and the associated grounds became a facility for children, known as Coram Fields. The grounds includes three eight-a-side football pitches, two tennis courts, a stickball field, a basketball court, a children’s playground, sand pits, a pets corner and a café. Services provided include an after school and holiday programme, a sports programme, a youth centre and an early years programme which includes a nursery and drop-in. Adults can only enter if accompanied by a child. A very fine facility.
Kew Green, London
This ground only ever hosted one Important Match, between The Prince of Wales’ XI and the Duke of Marlborough’s XI in 1732. I include this ground here because is still exists as if it were a village green, despite being well with the London conurbation. It is the home ground of Kew Cricket Club.
Kew Green in 2022. Not so green as it happens. The great painter, John Gainsborough, is buried in the churchyard opposite.
Gosden Common
The first recorded instance of a women’s cricket match appears to have been an inter-village game played on 26th July 1745. The Derby Mercury of 9 August 1745 reported, “The greatest cricket match that ever was played in the South Part of England was on Friday, the 26th of last month, on Gosden Common, near Guildford, in Surrey, between eleven maids of Bramley and eleven maids of Hambledon [Surrey, not Hampshire], dressed all in white, the Bramley maids had blue ribbons and the Hambledon maids red ribbons on their heads. The Bramley girls got 119 notches and the Hambledon girls 127. There was of both sexes the greatest number that ever was seen on such as occasion. The girls bowled, batted, ran and catched as well as any men could do in that game.” A return match was scheduled to be played on Tuesday August 6th, although no report has been found to confirm it took place. In 1995 the Women’s Cricket Association staged a commemorative match at Bramley to mark the 250th anniversary of that historic event.
Cricket is still played at Gosden Common, it is the home of Bramley Cricket Club. Sadly, they do not seem to have a women’s section. Their website refers to the famous match but, gives the date as 1794.
A plaque by the common gives the correct year but gets the month wrong.