Tewin cricket club
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The Upper Green - the home of Tewin CC - is one of the first places in which organised cricket was played in Hertfordshire, with matches dating back as far as the late eighteenth century.
Knowledge of cricket at the Upper Green from this time comes from the diary of John Carrington; a Tewin gardener who eventually rose to become one of Hertfordshire’s top civil-servants and landowners (and also owner of the Rose and Crown pub in the village). Excerpts from Carrington's diary include him challenging the church Clerk of Hertingfordbury to a single wicket game on 29th September, 1802 after the conclusion of the Codicote Vs Hertford game at the Upper Green. The 76 year old Carrington went onto beat his opponent and winning 2s 6d, but prizes for other games played at Tewin included a violin (1804) and leg of mutton (1805). The Upper Green is also known to have been used for some of the biggest games in the county at this time, including a game between Ware and Hertfordshire in October 1802 that was said to have been watched by 1500 people.
Cricket in the modern era however began in the 1950s. Up until this time the Upper Green had been used as an area of common land for the people of Tewin, it being unsuitable for farming due to the soil being poorly drained (the remnants of ponds remain around the pitch to this day), yet in 1943 the area was drained and used for the growing of potatoes throughout the war. It was not until 1953 however – the same year the Queen was crowned and Hillary and Tensing conquered Everest – that cricket began to be played on the Upper Green once more. The regulars and Landlord of the Plume of Feathers pub (whose logo can be seen on the club badge today), decided upon founding a cricket team and, as the object of their deliberations is still alive and kicking some fifty and more years later, they too can be said to have earned a kind of immortality.
Their discussions led to a public meeting being convened, at which it was agreed that a total of 27 fixtures would be played both home and away, and on most days leading up to the opening match a series of working parties could be observed making their way to the Upper Green, the approved location for our home games. The task confronting the working parties was a formidable one but undeterred, the proposed “wicket” was regularly mowed, watered and rolled and, although still far from ideal, it did at least begin to look something like a cricket table.
Today Tewin CC runs three teams a weekend and play in the Hertfordshire Saracens League, but still pride themselves on remaining a village club - still drinking in the Rose and Crown pub where it all began over 50 years ago.
For more information, please visit www.tewincc.org.uk
