Cheriton Road is a complex of sports grounds at

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

in the

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. The complex includes

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

pitches, a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

ground, hockey pitches,

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

courts and an indoor sports facility. It includes the home ground of

Folkestone Invicta F.C. Folkestone Invicta Football Club is a football club based in Folkestone, Kent, England. They are currently members of the and play at Cheriton Road. History The club was established in 1936 and joined the East Kent Wednesday League for the 1 ...

, known as The Alcaline Stadium for sponsorship reasons, and the Three Hills Sports Park which includes the home grounds of Folkestone Cricket Club and Folkestone Optimist Hockey Club. The cricket ground, which was previously called the Cheriton Road Sports Ground, was used by

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ken ...

for top level cricket matches. The ground is located around north-west of Folkestone town centre, north-east of

Folkestone West railway station Folkestone West railway station is on the South Eastern Main Line in England, serving the western area of Folkestone, Kent. It is down the line from Charing Cross railway station, London Charing Cross. All trains that call are operated by Southe ...

.Explorer Map 138 – Dover, Folkestone & Hythe,

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

, 2015-09-16. It was built on farmland owned by the Radnor Park estate between Cheriton and Folkestone.Kent LXXV.10,

map, revised 1906, published 1907.Cheriton Road Sports Ground

CricInfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

. Retrieved 2018-03-04. The A2034, the former route of the A20 trunk road, runs along the southern and western edges of the ground, joining the

M20 motorway The M20 is a Controlled-access highway, motorway in Kent, England. It follows on from the A20 road (England), A20 at Swanley, meeting the M25 motorway, M25, and continuing on to Folkestone, providing a link to the Channel Tunnel and the ports a ...

to the north of the ground. It is at the foot of the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Areas of Outstanding Natural Be ...

which rise on the northern edge of the Folkestone urban area.

Football stadium

The football stadium on the site is the home ground of

who play in the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

Premier Division. It has a capacity of the football stadium is 4,000, of which 336 is seated.Williams M, Williams T (2016) ''Non-League Club Directory 2017'', p.324. Tony Williams Publications. The main Wilf Armory stand, which seated 900, was damaged by storms in 2013/14 and demolished the following summer, with a reduced number of seats moved to the Brian Merryman Stand on the opposite side of the ground. Three terraces, one of which is covered, line the other sides of the ground.The Fullicks Stadium

Retrieved 2018-03-04. The ground was previously the home ground of

Folkestone F.C. Folkestone Football Club was the name of two English football clubs based in the town of Folkestone, Kent. It is unclear if the two clubs were connected, but neither has any formal connection to Folkestone Invicta, founded in 1936, which took o ...

who played in the

Southern Football League The Southern League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and Midlands of England, and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven a ...

. They had first used Cheriton Road in 1914. The club folded in 1991 and Folkestone Invicta moved into the ground, having previously played in

Hythe Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to: Places Australia * Hythe, Tasmania Canada *Hythe, Alberta, a hamlet in Canada England *The ...

.Folkestone Invicta
Pyramid Passion. Retrieved 2018-04-03. The stadium is owned by Folkestone and Hythe District Council and leased by the club.Tervet S (2014
Folkestone Invicta granted a five-year lease at the Fullicks Stadium by landlords Folkestone and Hythe District Council
''

Kent Online KM Media Group is a multimedia company in the county of Kent, England which originated as the publisher of the Kent Messenger. The Group now produces local newspapers, radio stations, TV and websites throughout the county. Yattendon Group#Iliff ...

'', 2014-03-05. Retrieved 2018-03-04.

Three Hills Sports Park

The sports park was fully opened in 2013 following a £6.8 million redevelopment of the cricket and hockey facilities at the ground which began in 2010.Three Hills Sports Park
The Roger de Haan Charitable Trust. Retrieved 2018-03-04.Welcome to the Cheriton Road Sports Ground
Cheriton Road Sports Ground Trust. Retrieved 2018-03-04.Major Boost for Sport in Folkestone
The Roger de Haan Charitable Trust. Retrieved 2018-03-04.Three Hills Sports Park
Crofton Consulting. Retrieved 2020-10-11. The redevelopment was funded by a donation from the

Roger De Haan Sir Roger Michael De Haan, CBE, DL (born October 1948, Northampton) is the son of the late Sidney De Haan, who created the Saga group of companies, best known for selling holidays to the over-50s market. Business career De Haan took over Sag ...

Charitable Foundation on land owned by Folkestone and Hythe District Council. The centre includes centre of excellence facilities for cricket, hockey and netball.Welcome to Folkestone Cricket Club
, Folkestone Cricket Club. Retrieved 2018-03-04. The existing cricket and hockey pavilion was replaced by a modern pavilion and sports hall. The original had been built in 1905, funded by a £1,000 donation by the 6th Earl of Radnor.Dray P (2015) ''Folkestone Through the Ages''. Stroud" Amberley Publishing Limited.
Available online
Retrieved 2018-03-04.) Facilities include two artificial pitches, one of which is of a standard suitable for international hockey,About us
Folkestone Optimists Hockey Club. Retrieved 2018-04-03. a 3G football pitch, netball courts,

cricket nets Cricket nets are used by batters and bowlers to practice their cricketing techniques. They consist of a cricket pitch (natural or artificial) enclosed by netting on either side, behind, and optionally above. The bowling end is left open. Net ...

and an indoor sports hall.Outdoor pitches
Cheriton Road Sports Ground Trust. Retrieved 2018-03-04.Sports facilities hire
, Three Hills Sports Club. Retrieved 2018-03-04.Three Hills Sports Centre, Folkestone
McArdle Sport Tec. Retrieved 2018-03-04. The complex is also the home of Folkestone Town Netball Club and Folkestone Running Club. The complex has been leased by the council, who own the land, for 125 years to an independent charitable trust which manages the site.About Three Hills Sports Park
Three Hills Sports Park. Retrieved 2018-04-03.Folkestone follow the Dennis and SISIS path to build a Kent venue
Club Cricket Conference. Retrieved 2018-03-04.Would-be County Ground Gets 'Full Pitch' Machinery from Dennis & SISIS
, Sports and Play Construction Association, 2014-04-28. Retrieved 2018-03-04.

Cricket history

Stands for Folkestone cricket ground - geograph

Cricket was first played at Cheriton Road in 1901, Folkestone Cricket Club moving from its previous ground, Sandgate Plain on the Folkestone Leas. The ground, which was originally on the site of the football stadium, was levelled and relaid before being first used by a Kent Club and Ground team in 1905. The ground was moved to its current site immediately to the east of the football stadium in 1925 and a cricket week was established during September of the same year with the first

first-class matches First class (or 1st class, Firstclass) generally implies a high level of service, importance or quality. Specific uses of the term include: Books and comics * ''First Class'', a comic strip in ''The Dandy'' (1983-1998) * ''X-Men: First Class' ...

on the ground being a

Gentlemen v Players Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of cricket matches that began in July 1806 and was abolished in January 1963. It was a match between a team consisting of amateurs (the Gentlemen) and a team consisting of professionals (the Players ...

fixture and a match between AER Gilligan's XI and LH Tennyson's XI.Folkestone Week, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', issue 44061, 1925-09-08, p.5.Cheriton Road Sports Ground, Folkestone
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2018-04-03. During the week the ground was described:

It is a magnificent ground ... (which) rank(s) with any in England. The view from the raised enclosure on the south side ... across the golf links to Caeser's Camp and the bold outline of the Downs is a glorious one and lends a great air of spaciousness to the ground, which is itself on the grand scale... – ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'', 8 September 1925

A new pavilion was built and the following year saw an England XI play the touring Australians as well as the first match featuring a

side - the county playing MCC on the ground.Folkestone Cricket Festival, ''

'', 1926-08-14, p.5. Regular first-class matches took place in each year until the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, with matches between touring teams and England XIs being common and Kent using the ground in most seasons. Folkestone cricket ground pavilion - geograph

Folkestone cricket ground pavilion - geograph

After the war the ground was used regularly by Kent between 1949 and 1991, with a county cricket week being re-established in 1961. The county played a total of 85 first-class matches on the ground and, from 1969, played 23

limited overs Limited overs cricket, also known as white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed within one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty20 cricket (3-h ...

matches on the ground. The final cricket week took place in 1991, with a final Kent First XI match taking place in 1995 against

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. The county has continued to the use the ground for Second XI matches, most recently

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

competition matches.

Kent Cricket Board The Kent Cricket Board is the governing body for all recreational cricket in the historic county of Kent. This covers the local authorities within the modern county of Kent as well as the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham ...

used the ground for the last List A fixture on the ground in the

2002 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy The 2002 Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 29 August 2001 and 31 August 2002. It was the second Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, following its change of name from the ...

.First-class cricket returns to Folkestone

, 2002-04-24. Retrieved 2018-03-05.Hampshire complete C&G victory at Folkestone

, 2002-05-30. Retrieved 2018-03-05. The ground, which has been described as a "charming ground set beneath the Down", Woodcock J (1968) A crescendo of runs for Kent's ninth wicket, ''

'', 1969-09-05, p.13. continues to be used by Folkestone Cricket Club in the

Kent Cricket League The Kent Cricket League is the top level of competition for recreational club cricket in Kent, England. The league was founded in 1970 and the first season of play was 1971. The twelve founding clubs were Ashford, Aylesford Paper Mills, Dart ...

Records on the ground

A total of 118 first-class matches have been held on the ground, 85 featuring Kent as the home side.Grounds Records in ''Kent County Cricket Club Annual 2017'', pp.210–211. Canterbury:

. Another 24 List A fixtures have been played, 23 featuring Kent as the home side and one the Kent Cricket Board.

First-class cricket

SLNSW 9465 Study of England batsman Les Ames

*Highest total: 592/5 declared by Kent against

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, 1933 *Lowest total: 55 by MCC against South, 1933 *Highest partnership: 260, 4th wicket by CEB Rice and P Johnson, for

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

against Kent, 1984 *Highest individual score: 295, LEG Ames for Kent against Gloucestershire, 1933 *Best bowling in an innings: 9/61, AP Freeman for Kent against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

, 1932 *Best bowling in a match: 17/92, AP Freeman for Kent against Warwickshire, 1932 The 295 runs scored by Les Ames in 1933 was the highest individual score by a Kent batsman in first-class cricket at the time. It was beaten the following year when

Bill Ashdown William Henry Ashdown (27 December 1898 – 15 September 1979) was an English professional cricketer. He is one of a very few men who played first-class cricket before the First World War and after the Second World War. Ashdown was born in Brom ...

scored 332 runs and, as of 2024, is the fifth highest individual score in Kent's first-class history.Batting Records, pp.183–196, in 2017 Annual, ''Op. cit.'' Ames made two double centuries on the ground in 1933, scoring 201 for the Players later in the year.The Folkestone Festival, ''

'', 1935-09-08, p.5. Fast bowler

Fred Ridgway Frederick Ridgway (10 August 1923 – 26 September 2015) was an English professional cricketer who played in five Test matches for the England cricket team on the 1951–52 tour of India. Ridgway played county cricket as a fast bowler for Ken ...

took four wickets in four balls on the ground for Kent against

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

in 1951.Bowling records, pp.197–205, in 2017 Annual, ''Op. cit.'' Tich Freeman's figures of 17 wickets for 92 runs are, as of 2018, the third best bowling figures in a match for the county. They included a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

List A cricket

*Highest total: 281/5 by Kent against Gloucestershire, 1983 (40 over match) *Lowest total: 84 by Kent against Gloucestershire, 1969 *Highest partnership: 170, 3rd wicket by CJ Tavaré and DG Aslett, for Kent against Warwickshire, 1983 *Highest individual score: 122

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

, CJ Taveré for Kent against Warwickshire, 1983 *Best bowling: 5/19, JA Jameson for Warwickshire against Kent, 1974

Hockey history

Folkestone Optimists Hockey Club use the complex as their home ground. The club was established in 1926 and organises the International Easter Hockey Festival at the ground. This is the oldest hockey festival of its kind in the UK and is over 100 years old and has included international matches in its programme.France outplayed at Folkestone, ''

'', 1924-04-21, p.14.England beat Denmark, ''

'', 1954-04-19, p.2. The ground has been used for top-class hockey and hosted the opening ceremony of the International Federation of Women's Hockey Associations tournament in 1953, described as "the greatest international tournament ever held".Women's Hockey – International teams at Folkestone, ''

'', 1953-09-30, p.4. A total of 16 teams competed at Folkestone during the tournament.The Game Is The Thing: Amateurism, The English And The 1953 IFWHA Tournament In Folkestone
The Hockey Museum. Retrieved 2018-03-06.Women's Hockey – a great enterprise, ''

'', 1953-08-21, p.9. It has also been used for trial matches and North v South games.Today's trial at Folkestone, ''

'', 1951-02-03, p.3.Divisional Hockey Match, ''

'', 1954-01-16, p.4.

References

External links

Cheriton Road Football Ground
{{Kent CCC Folkestone Invicta F.C. Football venues in England Folkestone Cricket grounds in Kent