The Grace Gates, officially the W. G. Grace Memorial Gates, are two pairs of gates on St John's Wood Road at

Lord's Cricket Ground Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

in London, England. They were erected in 1923 and the gates with their flanking walls and piers became a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

in 1996.

Design

The Grace Gates were designed by architect Sir Herbert Baker as a tribute to English

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 ...

er W. G. Grace, who had died in 1915. They replaced an earlier, less decorative, entrance to the ground. Baker also designed the old Lord's Grandstand, which was demolished in 1996. The gates are made of cast iron and bear motifs of a cricket ball and the sun's rays, and the initials of the

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 ...

. They are set within the south exterior wall of Lord's on St John's Wood Road, within a curved recess (or

exedra An exedra (: exedras or exedrae) is a semicircular architecture, architectural recess or platform, sometimes crowned by a semi-dome, and either set into a building's façade or free-standing. The original Greek word ''ἐξέδρα'' ('a seat ou ...

) of Portland stone, which also contains a door to either side for pedestrian access. The two pairs of gates are separated from each other by a pillar made of Portland stone, topped by a stone carving of three stumps and urn, with a further pillar to either side, also topped by a stone urn. On the centre pillar is a carved wreath with the initials WGG, and the engraved inscription TO THE MEMORY OF WILLIAM GILBERT GRACE THE GREAT CRICKETER: 1848–1915: THESE GATES WERE ERECTED: THE MCC AND OTHER FRIENDS AND ADMIRERS. The inscription was a matter of some debate, with various suggestions made in English, Latin and Greek. Sir Stanley Jackson suggested including "The Great Cricketer" in the design.

History

The Grace Gates were officially opened by Sir Stanley Jackson at a ceremony in 1923. They are located close to the west end of the Tavern Stand, and are the main entrance to Lord's for MCC members, who often queue outside the gates hours before Lord's opens on the day of a Test match to get a good seat in the Lord's Pavilion. The " Toffs and Toughs" photograph, of two boys in

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...

uniform and three others in the plain clothes of pre-war working class youths, was taken outside the Grace Gates in July 1937. A protest was held outside the Grace Gates in 1970, opposing the 1969–70 South Africa rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland because of South Africa's

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

policies. The Grace Gates were listed in 1996. In 2013, as part of a revised redevelopment of Lord's, it was announced that a new entrance would be built into Lord's to supersede the Grace Gates as the entrance for MCC members. The gates themselves would be locked for three years while the pavilion end is redeveloped.

References

{{coord, 51.52826, -0.17316, type:landmark_region:GB, format=dms, display=title Gates in England Grade II listed buildings in the City of Westminster W. G. Grace Lord's Buildings and structures completed in 1923 Herbert Baker buildings and structures Grade II listed monuments and memorials