The St Lawrence Lime Tree was a at the

St Lawrence Ground The St Lawrence Ground is a cricket ground in Canterbury, Kent. It is the home ground of Kent County Cricket Club and since 2013 has been known as The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, due to commercial sponsorship. It is one of the oldest grounds o ...

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 ...

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 ...

, England. It was located within the boundary ropes of the

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 ...

field which required special rules. In 2005, it was broken in two during high winds.

History

It is not known when the tree was planted, but it was fully grown by 1847, when the

was opened. The cricket ground was built around the tree, which was located within the boundary ropes. As a result of the St Lawrence Ground being the only first-class ground with a tree in the playing area, special laws were enacted regarding the tree. These laws may have been instigated pre-1910 where a

Hampshire County Cricket Club Hampshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic counties of England, historic county of Hamp ...

batsman was claimed to be caught by a

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ken ...

fielder off the tree. The laws stated that if the ball hit the tree, it was scored as a four even if it would have gone on to score six otherwise and no batsman could be caught out from a rebound off the tree. It was viewed as a challenge to hit a ball over the tree; only four batsmen, Arthur Watson,

Learie Constantine Learie Nicholas Constantine, Baron Constantine (21 September 19011 July 1971) was a Trinidadian cricketer, lawyer and politician who served as Trinidad and Tobago's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and became the UK's first black peer ...

, Jim Smith and

Carl Hooper Carl Llewelyn Hooper (born 15 December 1966) is a Guyanese former cricketer who captained the West Indies in Test matches and One Day International matches. An all-rounder, he was a right-handed batsman and off-spin bowler, who came to promin ...

, managed it.

Death and replacement

In 1999, the St Lawrence Lime was diagnosed with heartwood fungus and given an expected lifespan of 10 years despite

pollarding Pollarding is a pruning system involving the removal of the upper branches of a tree, which promotes the growth of a dense head of foliage and branches. In ancient Rome, Propertius mentioned pollarding during the 1st century BCE. The practice h ...

aimed to promote growth. In preparation, a replacement ''Tilia'' sapling was planted at the St Lawrence Ground by E. W. Swanton. Weakened by the fungus, the trunk of the tree was broken in two by high winds on 8 January 2005, leaving a stump. Kent initially planned to use the replacement to take the place of the St Lawrence Lime and had permission from 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 ...

to do so. However, because the replacement was still small and was deemed unable to take a cricket ball and being less visible to players, it was planted in the playing area outside the boundary ropes instead of inside to take the place of the St Lawrence Lime in a ceremony including former club captain

Chris Cowdrey Christopher Stuart Cowdrey (born 20 October 1957) is a former English cricketer. Cowdrey played for Kent, Glamorgan and England as an all-rounder. He is the eldest son of the cricketer and life peer, Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge. H ...

References

{{Coord, 51.26758, N, 1.09279, E, display=title Individual trees in England Kent County Cricket Club Canterbury 2000s individual tree deaths Cricket culture Individual lime trees