Barrack Field is located on the grounds of the

Royal Artillery Barracks Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich, is a barracks of the British Army which forms part of Woolwich Garrison. The Royal Regiment of Artillery had its headquarters here from 1776 until 2007, when it was moved to Larkhill Garrison. History In 171 ...

Woolwich Woolwich () is a town in South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was mainta ...

, southeast

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

(formerly part of

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 ...

). It was once part of

Woolwich Common Woolwich Common is a common in Woolwich in southeast London, England. It is partly used as military land (less than 40%) and partly as an urban park. Woolwich Common is a conservation area. It is part of the South East London Green Chain. It is al ...

, then used as a venue for cricket matches in the 18th century and as the home of Woolwich Cricket Club at that time. Later it became the home of the Royal Artillery Cricket Club. It is now used as a generic sports field, mainly for

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 ...

History

Woolwich Cricket Club came briefly to prominence in August 1754 when the team played home and away games against

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

, at this time was probably the strongest team in England. The club revived in the last ten years of the 18th century when, following the establishment of

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

in 1787, club cricket was very fashionable in London and matches between the town clubs were very popular. Barrack Field was frequently used for matches in this period.

Cricket venue

At least 800 matches took place on the ground, mostly services fixtures. It is possible that Woolwich Cricket Club was merged into the Royal Artillery Cricket Club (RACC) or alternatively that it disbanded after the RACC took full possession of Barrack Field. According to its own website, RACC first played cricket in 1765, having been started as a private club by Royal Artillery officers. It was formally constituted as a regimental club as late as 1906. The Royal Artillery Cricket Club, now plays at the Sharp Cricket Ground in Larkhill Garrison.

References

{{coord , 51, 28, 58, N, 0, 3, 35, E, type:landmark_region:GB-GRE, display=title Woolwich Cricket grounds in London Defunct sports venues in London Defunct cricket grounds in England English cricket venues in the 18th century 1754 establishments in England Sports venues completed in 1754