The Park was a cricket ground situated in the grounds of Burley House, the mansion of

George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea (4 November 1752 – 2 August 1826), was an English peer, army officer and cricketer who was an important figure in the history of cricket. His main contributions to the game were patronage and organisatio ...

at Burley-on-the-Hill in

Rutland Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town. Rutland has a ...

. It was used for

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

in 1790, when an early all-England team played a Hampshire team. The fixture was repeated the following year. Also in 1791, an

Old Etonians This is a list of notable former pupils of Eton College, a 13–18 public fee-charging and boarding secondary school for boys in Eton, Berkshire, England. Former pupils of the school are known as Old Etonians. Former pupils Politics *Robert ...

side played 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 ...

. In 1792 the Earl of Winchilsea's XI played Assheton Smith's XI. In 1793, England played a Surrey team at the ground. The final first-class match held on the ground was during the same year when the Earl of Winchilsea's XI played R Leigh's XI. The final recorded match held on the ground was in 1814 when Rutland played

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

. The grounds of the mansion has been used for occasional cricket matches in recent decades including in 1994 the

Lord's Taverners The Lord's Taverners is a UK youth cricket and disability sports charity. Its charitable objective is to empower and positively impact the lives of young people facing challenges of inequality. Lord's Taverners was founded in 1950 by a group ...

against a Rutland XI to mark 300 years since the house was constructed."Meet the history man of Burley"
''Rutland Times'' 2 September 2009

References

Bibliography

G. B. Buckley George Bent Buckley (1885 – 26 April 1962) was an English surgeon and a celebrated cricket historian and an authority on the early days of the game. Buckley was born in Saddleworth, then part of Yorkshire, the son of Arthur and Jane Buckl ...

, ''Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket'', Cotterell, 1935. *

Arthur Haygarth Arthur Haygarth (4 August 1825 – 1 May 1903) was a noted English amateur cricketer who became one of cricket's most significant historians. He played first-class cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club and Sussex between 1844 and 1861, as wel ...

, ''Scores & Biographies'', Volume 1 (1744–1826), Lillywhite, 1862. * H. T. Waghorn, ''The Dawn of Cricket'', Electric Press, 1906. {{DEFAULTSORT:Park, The 1790 establishments in England Cricket grounds in Rutland Defunct cricket grounds in England Defunct sports venues in Rutland English cricket venues in the 18th century History of Rutland Sports venues completed in 1790