Dartford Brent
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dartford Brent was an extensive area of common land on the outskirts of Dartford in Kent. Part of it was a famous cricket venue in the 18th century and it was probably in use in during the 17th century also. It was noted for the quality of its turf, which was said to be "as smooth as a bowling green".
The earliest known important game that took place there was on 29 June 1709 when teams called Kent and Surrey played against each other. This has been called the first-ever "county match" though the teams were probably Dartford with guest players from elsewhere in Kent and a neighbouring Surrey parish with guest players from elsewhere in Surrey. There were no county clubs at the time.
Dartford Cricket Club still plays in the Kent League and its present ground at Hesketh Park is almost all that is left of the old Brent. According to the club's website, an unsuccessful campaign was waged against the Brent's enclosure during the 1870s and the townspeople presented a petition to the Court of Common Council. Among other things, the petition held that a portion of the Brent had been used as the town cricket ground throughout the whole period of living memory; while the whole area had been "constantly resorted to for all sorts of past times and has been looked upon as the recreation ground of Dartford". The cricket ground at that time lay near the top of Brent Lane, somewhere across the road which passes alongside Hesketh Park.
First-class cricket was played at Dartford Brent all through the 18th century and numerous references have survived from 1709 to 1795.
The All-England v Hampshire match played 27, 28 and 29 August 1795 (Hampshire won by 4 wickets) may have been the last time Dartford Brent was used for a major match. Games in Dartford after 1795 were played at Bowman’s Lodge on nearby Dartford Heath.
| English cricket venues in the 18th century |
|
Artillery Ground | Bishopsbourne Paddock | Broadhalfpenny Down | Bromley Common | Dartford Brent | Duppas Hill |
[edit] References
- Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians - various publications;
- At the Sign of the Wicket: Cricket 1742 – 1751 by F S Ashley-Cooper in Cricket Magazine (1900) (ASW);
- Cricket Scores 1730 - 1773 by H T Waghorn (WCS);
- Dartford Cricket Club website (DCC);
- Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket by G B Buckley (FL18);
- Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket by G B Buckley (FLPV);
- From the Weald to the World by Peter Wynne-Thomas (PWT);
- Kent Cricket Matches by F S Ashley-Cooper (KCM);
- Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 by Arthur Haygarth (SBnnn);
- The Dawn of Cricket by H T Waghorn (WDC)
