Penshurst Park Cricket Ground, also known as the Earl of Leicester's Park, is a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

ground at

Penshurst Penshurst is a historic village and civil parish located in a valley upon the northern slopes of the Kentish Weald, at the confluence of the River Medway and the River Eden, within the Sevenoaks district of Kent, England. The village is situ ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. It is one of the oldest cricket venues in England. Part of the

Penshurst Place Penshurst Place is a historic building near Penhurst, Kent, south east of London, England. It is the ancestral home of the Sidney family, and was the birthplace of the great Elizabethan poet, courtier and soldier, Sir Philip Sidney. The ori ...

estate, it hosted its first recorded match in 1724.

History

Penshurst Park is known to have been the venue for matches played as early as the 1720s. It is first recorded in 1724 for a match involving a combined Penshurst, Tonbridge & Wadhurst team against

Dartford Cricket Club Dartford Cricket Club is one of the oldest cricket clubs in England with origins which date from the early 18th century, perhaps earlier. The earliest known match involving a team from Dartford took place in 1722, against London, but the club's ...

.McCann T (2004) ''Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century'', p. 18. Sussex Record Society. and then in the 1728 English cricket season when it was used for two matches organised by Kent patron

Edwin Stead Edwin Stead (1701 – 28 August 1735) was a noted patron of English cricket, particularly of Kent teams in the 1720s. He usually captained his teams but nothing is known about his ability as a player. He was born at Harrietsham in Kent and d ...

against teams led by the 2nd Duke of Richmond and Sir William Gage. In 1729, Stead used it as his home venue for another match against Sir William Gage's XI. A number of matches were played by a Penshurst club in the mid-19th century.Other matches played on Penshurst Park, Penshurst
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-12-17. The ground is the home of the modern Penshurst Cricket Club.Penshurst Park Cricket Club
Retrieved 2017-12-17.

References

1728 establishments in England Cricket grounds in Kent Defunct cricket grounds in England Defunct sports venues in Kent English cricket venues in the 18th century History of Kent Sports venues completed in 1728 Penshurst {{England-cricket-ground-stub