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

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, England, is 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; Chesterfield Bowling Club in Derbyshire is believed to date back to 1294.

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 or to

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

; 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 Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...

for the recreational use of the Warden, and was first used for a game of bowls 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

Federal Republic Of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

, is a Grade II listed 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, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

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 previous 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 Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

is placed on a penny 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 it 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 winners of the competition were the former

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

and

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

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