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Richmond Green
The green was created early in the Seventeenth Century and cricket is still played there to this day.
The earliest reference to cricket on The Green is from May 1666 when Sir Robert Paston, a resident of Richmond, wrote a letter to his wife and mentioned that their son had taken part in “a game of criquett on Richmond Green”.
The first match that is definitely known to have been played on The Green was between Surrey and Middlesex in June 1730. Surrey won but no details have survived.
The following year, on 23 August, a match between Mr Chambers’ XI (a Richmond team) and the Duke of Richmond’s XI (a Sussex team) is the earliest in cricket history of which team scores are known. Richmond’s XI totalled 79 runs in their first innings and Chambers’ XI replied with 119 to take a first innings lead of 40. Richmond’s XI were all out for 72 in their second innings, so Chambers’ XI needed 33 to win. The game ended promptly at a pre-agreed time when Chambers’ XI had “four or five more to have come in” and needed “about 8 to 10 notches”. The result was, therefore, a draw and this caused a fracas among the crowd who were incensed by the prompt finish because the Duke of Richmond had arrived late and delayed the start of the game. The riot resulted in some of Richmond’s players “having their shirts tore off their backs: and ’tis said a law suit will commence about the play”. The stake was 200 guineas.
On 22 July 1741, a match between Surrey and London resulted in cricket’s earliest known tie.
On 4 July 1743, a combined Richmond & Kingston team was defeated by London. The noted Kent player Robert Colchin guested for London and the match is his earliest recorded mention. Later matches on The Green involved the Richmond club against other parish teams ā for example, Chertsey in 1761, 1765 and 1771; Kingston in 1767; and Montpelier in 1799 and 1800.
In 1770 a match took place on the green for which George III donated a small cup as a trophy.1
The Green is presently home to two cricket teams, both of which affiliated to Richmond pubs – The Prince’s Head and The Cricketers.
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 then. It was noted for the quality of its turf, which was said to be “as smooth as a bowling green”. Dartford Cricket Club still play on the Brent, albeit at Hesketh Park a little to the east of the earlier ground.
The earliest known inter-county match (not first-class) 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.
For more information, see here.
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 eight first-class matches one of which was the first First Class match between two counties, Surrey v Kent in 1773. Chertsey Cricket Club still exists, though cricket ceased at Laleham Burway in 1784.
Laleham Burway itself is a tract of water meadow on the Thames, north of Churtsey, not far from the Thorpe Park theme park, itself near where the M25 intersects with the M3. Kit Harris, Assistant Editor of Wisden Cricketersā Almanack, has written this excellent article which offers two candidates for the location of the ground and nominates the one that seems more likely, that is to say, the highest lying one. It is marked on the map by the diamond shape and the word Enclosure. Today, it is an agricultural field.
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-Menās Defeat.
The cricket field was within the grounds of Bourne Park House and reverted to a sheep field in the nineteenth century. Its fame lingered on however, and the ground had a second life when a significant number of games were staged there in the 1920s and 1930s. One regular player was the minor novelist, Alec Waugh (brother of the major novelist, Evelyn), who had moved into the Bishopsbourne house previously occupied by the villageās most famous resident, Joseph Conrad. The local Bishopsbourne team however, opted to play at the ground on the adjoining Charlton Park estate, so this rebirth proved temporary; even so, the ground was reputedly still used for occasional matches until the 1990s. Today the only remnants of these days are the old wooden pavilion and a rusting iron roller (left of the main house in the picture).
The Vine, Sevenoaks, Kent
Located at Knole near Sevenoaks, the Vine was initially developed by Lionel Sackville, first Duke of Dorset. Its earliest recorded use was for a match between a Kent team organised by Lionel’s second son, 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.
In 1773, John Sackville, Third Duke of Dorset presented the Vine Cricket Ground, Sevenoaks, Kent, to the town, at a peppercorn rent. Sevenoaks Town Council still owns the ground, though the rent doubled to two peppercorns after the pavilion was built in the 19th century. They must also pay the Lord Sackville (if asked) one cricket ball on 21 July each year.
Sevenoaks Vine is still a functioning cricket club, putting out four senior elevens and still playing on the historic field. Isn’t that wonderful?
See here for film of a recreation of an Eighteenth Century match at the Vine. See here for more information.
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 was 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. The ground was eventually 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 cafĆ©. 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.
Mitcham
Mitcham’s claim to to be the oldest cricket ground in the world, is somewhat tenuous. Cricket in Mitcham certainly dates back to the early part of the Eighteenth Century but the club’s suggestion this could be taken further is less then convincing. Judge for yourself:
“We have it on the authority of E.A.C.Thompson, founder and secretary of the Club Cricket Conference, brought up in Mitcham, that “While my father and I were watching a match on the Green one Saturday afternoon, he talked to an old villager who was nearer 90 than 80. He said that his own grandfather had told him he remembered seeing an old print of a cricket match with the inscription underneath “Crickette on Ye Olde Meecham Green”. It was dated 1685. He said that the print was hanging on one of the walls inside a room in one of the cottages surrounding the Green. Alas! it has now disappeared.”
Early records of matches are sparse, but it is known that in 1707 the villagers of Mitcham challenged All-London to a match which was played on Lamb’s Conduit Fields. The “County Journal” of 26 June 1736 records that, “The great match which was played between the Gentlemen of London and those of Meecham in Surrey, was won by the former by a considerable number of notches”.
There is an account of a match between Mitcham and Ewell, played on the Green in October 1731: “The same day (October 2nd) a great cricket match was played on Mitcham Green, Surrey, between 11 of that town and 11 of Ewell in the same county, for 5 guineas a side; the latter went in first, and on their side was the famous Tim Coleman, who usually played on the London side, but notwithstanding a great deal of good play on both sides, the former won the match by several notches.”
Gosden Common
The first recorded instance of a womenās 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.” Sounds a little bit patronising to me, but never mind. 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 Womenās 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.
Guildford waste land – now junction of North Street and Chertsey Street
In 1598, during a hearing over a disputed plot of land, a Surrey coroner named John Derrick, testified that about 50 years earlier he and some school friends ādid runne and play there at Creckett and other Plaiesā. This entry in a Guildford Court Book is dated January 15, 1598 and is the first certain record of cricket being played anywhere. That highly significant piece of wasteland is believed to have been close to the junctions of North Street and Chertsey Street – where the Turtle Bay restaurant now stands. Around the corner stands Guildfordās Royal Grammar School, where former England fast bowler and captain Bob Willis was educated.
Given the huge part West Indies cricket has played in the history of the game, a Turtle Bay restaurant does have some element of relevance. Even so, it is a shame that there is not a blade of grass to be seen!
The present Guildford Cricket Club was founded in 1856, making is something of a late arrival. Guildford is however has several other important connections with early cricket which has led no less an authority than David Frith to say it has a claim to the title ‘Cradle of Cricket‘.
Briefly, these are as follows:
- The great Lumpy Stevens came from Send, an outlying village near Guildford and he played a part n the introduction of the middle stump.
- Hambledon player Robert Robinson came from Ash, in between Guildford and Farnham, and he was something of a kit-innovator, experimenting with both pads and spikes, though neither caught on in his era.
- A great many of the important matches of the Eighteenth Century were staged at or near Guildford.
- The expression Test Match was coined by Will Hammersley, who, like Robinson, originated in the village of Ash.
All very interesting, but, for my money, the Cradle of Cricket claim is still something of a stretch.
- Simon and Smart, page 5 ā©ļø