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History of Petersfield Cricket Club Artefacts and memorabilia from the club can be found in Petersfield Museum. The First Cricket Ground The earliest reference to cricket in Petersfield is found in an election document which states that in 1741 part of a field belonging to a Mr Pay was called Cricket Field. This is confirmed on the Hylton Estate Maps of 1773 and 1793 and shows the ground sited on the east side of Frenchman’s Road. The First Recorded Match Although the club does not have records earlier than the 1930s various early matches involving Petersfield are recorded in newspapers and books. For instance, in 1781 the Hampshire Chronicle records a match played between Hambledon and a combined Petersfield and Buriton team for 500 guineas a side. “None to play who were more than 16 years old”. 500 guineas was an enormous sum to wager on the outcome of a match, but far higher amounts were wagered in those days. The Smalls Hambledon, only some ten miles from Petersfield, was the premier club in England between the 1770’s and 1790’s and quite capable of challenging an all-England team and beating them. Two Petersfield residents were synonymous with cricket and often played for Hambledon. These were John Smalls, father and son. They certainly played for Petersfield as well, as two matches are recorded between a combined Portsmouth/Hambledon team and a combined Petersfield/East Meon side which included the two Smalls. The matches, played on Windmill Down on 29th August and 2nd September 1796 resulted in wins for the Petersfield/East Meon team and no doubt the Smalls featured to great effect. John Small Senior John Small senior was born at Empshott in Hampshire on April 19th 1737 and when he was about six his family moved to Petersfield. When he was twelve the family moved to No 22 High Street formerly the Half Moon. Various verses were written about him, as this one: ‘John Small make bat and ball His cricketing career was long and he played in a county match when he was 61. Away from cricket he was originally a shoemaker then a gamekeeper and draper. He was a talented violinist and for 75 years played in the Petersfield choir. He excelled at making cricket bats and balls, the latter being considered as matchless, and he sold the last half dozen he had made at the age of 80. He was involved in a controversy in 1775 when batting for V of Hambledon versus V of kent. In this particular match, “Lumpy” Stevens, one of the foremost bowlers of the day, three times bowled the ball between the stumps not dislodging the bail. At that time only two stumps were used which were a8 inches apart. The game created an outcry and as a result a panel of eminent cricketers was formed to resolve the problem. The panel decreed that a third stump should be set between the other two so that the ball could not pass between them without disturbing the wicket. His tombstone, which is in Petersfield churchyard bears the inscription ‘Sacred to the memory of John Small who died December 31 1826 aged 89 years’ with an epitaph: “Praises on tombs are trifles vainly spent; a man’s good name is his own monument.” John Small Junior John Small junior was born in Petersfield in 1766 and lived there all his life. While not being quite as accomplished as his father, nevertheless he was good enough to play for the Hambledon Club when he was nineteen. His cricketing career did not last as long as his father’s – his last recorded match being in 1811 when he was 45. John Small junior acquired in 1802 the lease for Lyndum House from Hylton Joliffe and he lived there until he and his family moved to the Square. He also made cricket bats and balls as his father did and outside cricket he was a linen draper and silk mercer. A sign outside his shop read: ‘The said John Small The inscription on his tombstone in Petersfield churchyard reads: Sacred to the memory of The Advent of Railway Cricket continued in Petersfield without serious incident until the mid 1850s. Then a major change occurred that affected not only everyone in Petersfield but also throughout Britain: the advent of the railway. The London and South Western Railway Company’s route for the new track, from London to Portsmouth lay to the west of Petersfield away from the existing habitation. The opening of the railway was delayed due to a dispute with the South West Railway Company and initially the line through Petersfield had to terminate at Havant. However the dispute was finally resolved and the full length of the track was opened on 1st January 1859. The location of the station at Petersfield meant that the cricket field had had to be used for the old sidings and thus well over 100 years of cricketing history played out on the old ground disappeared in the name of progress. Moving to The Heath Initially the club must have been in a state of disarray when the members first learnt of what was to befall their ground. However there was to be a happy ending to their problem. One of the directors of the railway company was John Bonham-Carter, a local landowner and it was he who provided a solution. He owned part of The Heath and he proposed that an area to the north east would be right for the new ground. The location was ideal, with a large level playing area surrounded by five Bronze Age barrows. A report in the Hampshire Chronicle stated that an inaugural match was played on 29th May 1858 (some six months before the railway opened) at the new ground at The Heath. The game was a ‘pick and choose’ match and the report goes on to say that ‘the weather was fine and some good play exhibited both at the wicket and in the field’. Another interesting point mentioned in the report was that ‘a match with the Hambledon Club was on the tapis’ (on the cards). The Cricket Pavilion There is no record of a cricket pavilion during the first 23 years at the new ground but one can only surmise that John Bonham-Carter provided one. However in 1881 a new cricket pavilion was built at the south west side of the ground funded by public subscription. The design was of such interest that it was featured in the October 1881 issue of the ‘Builder’ which at the time was a prestigious magazine for the industry. The article shows a substantial timber building with a dressing room and toilets, a large luncheon room 15ft by 45ft and of course a bar. The roof covering consisted of ‘withy strips’ which were fixed in the same manner as ordinary thatch. The ridge of the roof had an imposing central feature with a weather vane on top. Sadly the thatched pavilion was burnt down in 1973.
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