Lord's Old Ground was 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 ...

venue in

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 ...

that was established by Thomas Lord in 1787. It was used mainly by

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 ...

for major matches until 1810, after which a dispute about rent caused Lord to relocate.

Matches

The first match known to have been played at Lord's Old Ground was White Conduit Club v

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

on Monday 21 May 1787. Arthur Haygarth, ''Scores & Biographies'', Volume 1 (1744-1826), Lillywhite, 1862 The first regular cricket fixture at Lord's which continues today was the annual Eton v Harrow match which was first played on the Old Ground in 1805. The inaugural

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 ...

match took place at the Old Ground in July 1806.

Location

Lord's Old Ground was on the site of what is now Dorset Square. Lord purchased another ground in 1811, Lord's Middle Ground, a site at Lisson Grove in the vicinity of

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, Borough of Camden (and historical ...

which was unpopular and barely used and which was requisitioned for a canal cutting in 1814. He then leased the present

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 ...

, formerly a duckpond in

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster, London, England, about 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Historically the northern part of the Civil Parish#An ...

. A commemorative plaque was unveiled in Dorset Square by

Andrew Strauss Sir Andrew John Strauss (born 2 March 1977) is an English cricket administrator and former player, formerly the Director of Cricket for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). He played county cricket for Middlesex County Cricket Club, Middl ...

on 9 May 2006.

External links

References

External links

Lord's

{{English cricket venues to 1825 1787 establishments in England Cricket grounds in Middlesex Defunct cricket grounds in England Defunct sports venues in London English cricket venues in the 19th century English cricket venues in the 18th century History of Middlesex Sports venues completed in 1787 Marylebone Cricket Club