Sporting Venue
When James VI and I became King of England in 1603, he brought his golf clubs with him and the first games of golf in England were played at Molesey, Westminster and Greenwich which were large open spaces adjacent to royal palaces.
This venue is considered to be one of the birthplaces of cricket, along with other historical cricket greens, such as Mitcham Cricket Green. The earliest known use of the site for cricket was in 1726 and the first known first class cricket match to take place here was in 1733. One of cricket's most famous paintings is Cricket at Moulsey Hurst, by Richard Wilson in 1780. The painting is owned by MCC and on display at Lord's.
It was the site of the now defunct Hurst Park horse race course. The 1872 Ordnance Survey map shows a race course marked Molesey Hurst in this position. The location of the cricket ground was probably in the centre of the racecourse, which was common practice in the 18th century. It was at this ground where the now modern-day East Molesey CC began, although the current ground now lies (albeit still on the bank of the River Thames) on Graburn Way, about a quarter of a mile further east and a short walk from Hampton Court Palace.
Other sports and activities included ballooning, sprinting and archery.
Read more about this topic: Moulsey Hurst
Famous quotes containing the word sporting:
“The Boston papers had never told me that there were seals in the harbor. I had always associated these with the Esquimaux and other outlandish people. Yet from the parlor windows all along the coast you may see families of them sporting on the flats. They were as strange to me as the merman would be. Ladies who never walk in the woods, sail over the sea. To go to sea! Why, it is to have the experience of Noah,—to realize the deluge. Every vessel is an ark.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)