Southampton Old Bowling Green, situated on the corner of Lower Canal Walk and Platform Road,

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, England, claims to be the world's oldest surviving

bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

. It was first used in 1299;

History

The Hospital of "God's House" was founded in 1185 for pilgrims who were going either to the shrine of St Swithun at

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

or to

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

; until 2011, the gateway housed the museum of archaeology. The green adjoining the God's House Hospital had been established during the reign of Richard I the Lionheart for the recreational use of the Warden, and was first used for a game of

bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which players try to roll their ball (called a bowl) closest to a smaller ball (known as a "jack" or sometimes a "kitty"). The bowls are shaped (biased), so that they follow a curve ...

in 1299. The club that plays there now is believed to have been established in the 17th century because of the history of a competition known as the "Knighthood". It is also the only club that has a "Master" in charge, a title carried forward from the earliest of days. Bowling Green House - geograph

Bowling Green House, now occupied by Wainwright Bros. (shipping agency) and the Consulate Of The

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, is a

Grade II listed 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, H ...

building. Built in the mid-19th century, it is a three-storey brick building with a green slate roof with a central

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

on eight Tuscan columns, surmounted by a steep weather-vane.

The Knighthood

A unique occurrence called the "Knighthood" competition is held annually when the members (gentlemen commoners) compete to obtain 7 points, with the winner being awarded the title of "Knight-of-the-green" and becoming a sir (in lower case). The competition is adjudicated by the members who have previously won the competition (Knights), who adjudicate in top hats and frocked tails suits. Those who win are excluded from future Knighthood competitions. This is the annual competition of the club with rules which are different from the normal variant of the game. The competition used to start on 1 August but now starts on the third Wednesday of the month and is open to all members of the club, except the pre-existing knights. The game is played "roving jack" style in that the jack is placed on a

penny A penny is a coin (: pennies) or a unit of currency (: pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. At present, it is ...

anywhere on the green. Each player takes it in turns to bowl his two bowls at the jack. Each bowl when it comes to rest is measured and the distance from the jack is recorded before the bowl is removed. If a bowl moves the jack, the jack is placed back on the penny before it is measured. If the penny is partially covered by the bowl it is a toucher, if totally covered it is a lodger. After all the players have bowled the player with the closest bowl is awarded one point. If he also has the second nearest he scores two. The jack is then reset at a different position and the game continues until somebody has scored seven points. The winner is made a "knight-of-the-green" and can never enter this competition again. It is a rarity for the knight to be declared on the first day and the competition has been known to last ten days.

Past knights

Amongst the past winners of the competition was the former

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and

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Tom Nicol, who won the 133rd championship in 1907.

References

{{Buildings in Southampton Sport in Southampton Bowling greens in England Grade II listed buildings in Hampshire Buildings and structures in Southampton 1299 establishments in England