The History of Wandsworth Common

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Graham Jackson, 7 Nov 2021

Philip

Interesting articles.

It is interesting to note the match of cricket played on Wandsworth Common on 2 November 1828. In those days it was known that cricket was played later in the year than it is now, perhaps because there was not really any organised square or pitch on which to play a game as you just simply turned up and played on a piece of level ground for the purpose. Nowadays of course there is a much more organised way to put cricket squares "to bed" in autumn.

Although I have occasionally umpired a match at the very start of October most fixtures are done by the last Sunday of September at the latest. November cricket seems almost absurd. The light closes in early as daylight shortens and the cooler weather and usually wet days are not compensated by many dry days. Nevertheless if you are lucky , say as today, it can a times be warmer and drier than April!

You are probably right about the Heathfield ground being a possible venue for this match. Of course, I discuss the Heathfield ground in my book (also see one of my pictures in the book) * and its association with Heathfield cricket club, but was it the same cricket ground that was mentioned on page 8 of my book. If so it would have in some way had to have been renovated to have been able to welcome cricket once more some fifty years later?

Regards

Graham

Peter Farrow emailed to say he recalled a patch of artificial surface in the middle of the area in the 1950s.

I asked a couple of people who lived near that area in the 1950s - my old school friend Hugh Betterton and Graham if they remembered the patch. Neither did. But Graham expanded on his recollections:

Artificial pitches did not come into use until the mid 1960s, and it was well into the 1970s before they became more freely available. Before that it is possible that matting might have been laid on top of a concrete strip but I think that would have been unlikely on that area. In 1979 when on leave in Hong Kong, I umpired a cricket match on a matting pitch as described above - not the best surface!

My only recollection of going up to play cricket on the area you have indicated was for informal sessions when I was at Swaffield, probably around 1960-3. We used to use wickets painted on the wall and the PE master used to adjudicate whether we were bowled or not - or something like that.

The area was more actively used for sports I seem to remember, but any sort of club matches had long gone by then.

Recreational cricket was played on the four squares available between Trinity Road and the White House where the Skylark Café is. When the footpath was installed between the White House and the estate, the fourth square which was situated behind the tennis courts and Emanuel School was given up as it made that area too small to play a match on. I can remember that Swaffield used to use that area for inter-school cricket matches around 1962 and 1963.

[PB: I played school cricket there in the 1950s - probably against Swaffield! I can remember lugging the cricket kit bag up Magdalen Road to the Common from Tranmere Road in Earslfield. Very hot, very arduous. But at least I didn't have to carry it back down again.]

[PB: Graham's book is called A History of Trinity Fields - about the "sporting oasis", once part of the Common, opposite St mary Magdalene Church on the corner of Burntwood Lane and Trinity Road. It is a labour of real love, and a very important contribution to understanding our locality. Copies are available from the author - if you're interested, I'll put you in touch. He will be giving a talk about it to the Friends of Wandsworth Common sometime in the Spring, probably at the Naturescope.]