The St Lawrence Ground is a

cricket ground Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

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 ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. 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 on which

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 one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

is played, having been in use since 1847, and is the venue for

Canterbury Cricket Week Canterbury Cricket Week is the oldest cricket festival week in England and involves a series of consecutive Kent home matches, traditionally held in the first week in August. It was founded in 1842, although a similar festival week was first hel ...

, the oldest cricket festival in the world. It is one of the two grounds used regularly for

that have had a tree, the St Lawrence Lime, within the

boundary Boundary or Boundaries may refer to: * Border, in political geography Entertainment * ''Boundaries'' (2016 film), a 2016 Canadian film * ''Boundaries'' (2018 film), a 2018 American-Canadian road trip film *Boundary (cricket), the edge of the pla ...

. Capacity at the ground was increased to 15,000 in 2000, and four One Day International matches have been played there, one each in 1999 (part of the 1999 Cricket World Cup), 2000, 2003 and 2005. The ground was the venue for the first day/night

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

match, played as a trial in September 2011.

History

The ground was first established in 1847 on farmland owned by the fourth Baron Sondes. The land was the site of the St Lawrence Hospital, a

leper hospital A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. ''M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East Afr ...

founded in the mid-12th century, and immediately to the south of the Old Dover Road, which follows the line of the Roman road that ran from Dover to Canterbury.Character area 8.iii, Old Dover Road and St Lawrence in
Canterbury Conservation Area Appraisal
', Canterbury City Council, 2011, pp.190–194. Canterbury: Canterbury City Council. Retrieved 2018-03-28.St Lawrence Cricket Ground
Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2011-12-01. Retrieved 2018-03-24.St Lawrence Cricket Ground
Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2011-04-11. Retrieved 2018-03-24. A Tudor manor house had been built on the site after the

dissolution Dissolution may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books * ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers * ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music * Dissolution, in mu ...

of the hospital in the mid 16th century and this had been demolished by 1839.Sweetinburgh S (2015
Kent Cricket and a Tudor Mansion

Canterbury Christchurch University , mottoeng = The truth shall set you free , established = 2005 – gained University status 1962 – teacher training college , type = Public , religious_affiliation = Church of England , city ...

, 2015-08-06. Retrieved 2018-03-24.The Hospital of St Laurence, Canterbury (sic), in Page W (ed) (1926) ''A History of the County of Kent: Volume 2'', pp.209–216. London: Victoria County History.
Available online
Retrieved 2018-03-24. In the 18th century the house was known as St Lawrence. The ground was laid out by

Fuller Pilch Fuller Pilch (17 March 1804 – 1 May 1870) was an English first-class cricketer, active from 1820 to 1854. He was a right-handed batsman who bowled at a slow pace with a roundarm action. Pilch played in a total of 229 first-class matches for a ...

, a professional cricketer who had been the groundsman at

Town Malling West Malling ( , historically Town Malling) is a market town in the Tonbridge and Malling district of Kent, England. It has a population of 2,590. Landmarks West Malling contains several historic buildings, including St Leonard's Tower, a Norma ...

and, from 1842, the

Beverley Ground The Beverley Ground was a cricket ground in Canterbury in Kent. It was in use in the mid-19th century, with recorded matches taking place between 1839 and 1846. It was the home ground of Beverley Cricket Club and was where the first Kent County ...

in north-east Canterbury. Kent County Cricket Club had been formed at the Beverley Ground in 1842 and the St Lawrence Ground was established to be used for their

in 1847.Cricket – Kent v England, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'', 1847-08-04, p.7. Birley D (1999) ''A Social History of Cricket'', pp.79–82. London: Aurum Press. . The 1847 Cricket Week saw the first

matches held on the ground, with Kent playing England and the Gentlemen of Kent playing the

Gentlemen of England Cricket, and hence English amateur cricket, probably began in England during the medieval period but the earliest known reference concerns the game being played c.1550 by children on a plot of land at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, Surrey ...

.Robertson D (2009
Read about the origins of Canterbury Week
Kent County Cricket Club, 2009-08-04. Retrieved 2018-03-24. Initially, the St Lawrence ground was used only for the annual Cricket Week, and

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or sw ...

land for the rest of the each year. A St Lawrence Cricket Club was formed in 1864 specifically to use the ground more regularly for cricketMilton H (1979) Kent cricket grounds, in ''The Cricket Statistician'', no. 28, December 1979, pp.2–10. and improvements began to be made to the ground in the 1870s after the amalgamation of the East (Beverley) and West (Maidstone) Kent Cricket Clubs, forming the current Kent County Cricket Club. The ground was purchased for £4,500 by the county club from the 2nd Earl Sondes in 1896, a purchase partly funded by

public subscription Subscription refers to the process of investors signing up and committing to invest in a financial instrument, before the actual closing of the purchase. The term comes from the Latin word ''subscribere''. Historical Praenumeration An early form ...

, and became Kent's headquarters,The Kent County Club and the St Lawrence Ground, ''

'', 1896-03-14, p.13.Kent County Cricket Club, ''

'', 1897-03-25, p.11.Hignell A (2002) ''Rain Stops Play: Cricketing Climates'', pp. 65–66. London: Abingdon. .Moseling M, Quarrington T (2013) ''A Half-Forgotten Triumph: The story of Kent's County Championship title of 1913'', p.35. Cheltenham: SportsBooks. . although it was only used for county cricket during the Canterbury week until well into the 20th century.Hignell, ''op. cit.'' pp. 67–112. Prior to the purchase of the ground there were few permanent structures on it, accommodation during Cricket Week being provided in tents. The Iron Stand (now named the Les Ames Stand) is the oldest building still on the ground and was built in 1890; this was followed by the Pavilion, which was opened in 1900, and the adjacent Annexe Stand, originally built in 1907.St Lawrence Cricket Ground, Canterbury: Cricketers at War
World War One at Home,

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

, 2014-11-06. Retrieved 2018-03-24.Pennell M (2010
‘Bob The Builder’ arrives at St Lawrence
Kent County Cricket Club, 2010-09-26. Retrieved 2018-03-26. Albert Chevallier Tayler - Kent Vs Lancashire 1906

Albert Chevallier Tayler - Kent Vs Lancashire 1906

Kent's first County Championship title in 1906 was marked by the commissioning of a painting of the team playing

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

on the ground. The painting, ''

Kent vs Lancashire at Canterbury ''Kent vs Lancashire at Canterbury'' is an oil on canvas painting by Albert Chevallier Tayler completed in 1907. It was commissioned by the Kent County Cricket Club at the suggestion of chairman Lord Harris to celebrate their first County Cham ...

'' by

Albert Chevallier Tayler Albert Chevallier Tayler (1862–1925) was an English artist who specialised in portrait and genre painting, but was also involved in the plein air methods of the Newlyn School. He studied at Heatherley's School of Art, Royal Academy School ...

, depicts a view of the ground from the

Nackington Nackington is an English village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lower Hardres and Nackington, south of Canterbury in the Canterbury district, in the county of Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home ...

Road End with

Colin Blythe Colin Blythe (30 May 1879 – 8 November 1917), also known as Charlie Blythe, was an English professional cricketer who played Test cricket for the England cricket team during the early part of the 20th century. Blythe was a Wisden Cricketer of ...

, Kent's greatest pre-war bowler, bowling from the Pavilion End of the ground. The Pavilion can be seen clearly behind Blythe. The painting was hung in the Pavilion until 1999, when insurance payments proved too expensive and it was loaned to the MCC and hung in the Long Room at Lord's. It was permanently sold to MCC in 2006 and remains in the

Lord's Pavilion The Lord's Pavilion is a cricket pavilion at Lord's Cricket Ground in London, England. Designed by Thomas Verity and built in 1889–1890, the pavilion has achieved Grade II* listed heritage designation. Like the rest of Lord's, the pavilion is ...

, with a copy hanging in the St Lawrence Ground Pavilion. Auction feat for cricket painting
BBC News, 2006-06-27. Retrieved 2016-02-17. Kent won three more

s in the years before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. War was declared during Canterbury Week in 1914, although cricket continued until the end of the season and matches were moved to the ground from Dover due to wartime activity.Lewis P (2013) ''For Kent and Country'', p.21. Brighton: Reveille Press. . During the war, the ground was used by the military and occupied by the Field Ambulance detachment of the

South Eastern Mounted Brigade The South Eastern Mounted Brigade was a formation of the Territorial Force of the British Army, organised in 1908. After service in the Gallipoli Campaign, it was absorbed into the 3rd Dismounted Brigade in Egypt in February 1916. Formation ...

. Horses were stabled along the south side of the ground, including in the Iron Stand.Lewis ''op. cit.'', p.97. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

the ground was used as an alternative civil defence control centre.Smith VTC, Seary P (2012
Kent’s Twentieth-Century Military and Civil Defences. Part 3 – Canterbury
''Archaeologia Cantiana'' vol.132, pp.153–188. The Frank Woolley Stand was built adjacent to the Pavilion in the 1920s, and the Colin Cowdrey Stand added in the 1980s. Significant redevelopment was undertaken at the ground during the early 21st century, during which land was sold for housing. Cricketing feats to have taken place on the ground include the first triple century scored in top-class cricket, by

WG Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest players. He played first-class cricket for a record-equal ...

in 1876 playing for the MCC against Kent.Rajesh S (2010
An early pioneer
CricInfo, 2010-08-02. Retrieved 2018-03-30. As of 2018 it remains the only triple century to have been scored on the ground.Batting records, ''Kent County Cricket Club Annual 2017'', p.183–196. Canterbury: Kent County Cricket Club. Kent

leg-spinner Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...

Doug Wright Douglas Wright (born December 20, 1962) is an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2004 for his play ''I Am My Own Wife''. Early years Wright was born in Dallas, Texas. He attended and ...

took his seventh first-class

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

on the ground in 1949, a world record that remains to this day. Six of Wright's hat-tricks were taken while playing for Kent, although only the last was taken on the ground.Easterbrook B (1969
The heritage of our cricket grounds
''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'', 1969. Retrieved 2017-05-19.Robertson D (2014
A Special Centenary – Doug Wright
Kent County Cricket Club, 2014-08-18. Retrieved 2018-03-30.Hat-tricks, Bowling Records, ''Kent County Cricket Annual 2017'', p.199. Canterbury: Kent County Cricket Club. Kent have played more than 950 top-class matches on the ground, including over 550 first-class games.Grounds Records, ''Kent County Cricket Annual 2017'', p.210–211. Canterbury: Kent County Cricket Club. It was the venue for the first day/night County Championship match, played as a trial in September 2011, and regularly stages day/night limited-overs matches.Kent get mixed reaction to floodlit Glamorgan game

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

, 2011-09-09. Retrieved 2018-03-01. It has been used for four men's

one-day international A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...

matches and for women's international cricket Test matches and one-day matches, as well as for games by England Lions and age-group sides. In 2014, the ground was the venue for the first cricket match to be played between the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

and the Church of England.Dray W (2014
C of E wins with five balls to spare
''

Church Times The ''Church Times'' is an independent Anglican weekly newspaper based in London and published in the United Kingdom on Fridays. History The ''Church Times'' was founded on 7 February 1863 by George Josiah Palmer, a printer. It fought for the ...

'', 2014-09-26. Retrieved 2018-03-26. The ground has been known as The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence since a 2013 sponsorship deal between the club and local brewery

Shepherd Neame Shepherd Neame is an English independent brewery which has been based in the market town of Faversham, Kent, for over 300 years. While 1698 is the brewery's official established date, town records show that commercial brewing has occurred on the ...

. The deal gave naming rights to the ground for a ten-year period to the company, which has been a long-term sponsor of the club and brews a beer named ''Spitfire''.Kent County Cricket Club rename ground The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence
''

Kent Online KM Media Group is a multimedia company in the county of Kent, England which originated as the publisher of the Kent Messenger. The Group now produces local newspapers, radio stations and websites throughout the county. Iliffe Media acquired KM ...

'', 2013-05-21. Retrieved 2018-03-24.McPherson I (2013
Kent to play at The Spitfire Ground in ten-year deal
SportsPro Media Limited, 2013-05-22. Retrieved 2018-03-24. The Supermarine Spitfire is associated with the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...

, much of which was fought in the skies above the county in 1940 and after which Kent's limited-overs team is named.Spitfire fans now know what the name means
Battle of Britain Memorial. Retrieved 2018-04-07.Kent & the Spitfire
The Kent Spitfire. Retrieved 2018-04-07.

Lime tree

The playing surface of most cricket grounds are devoid of any trees or shrubs. The St Lawrence Ground was an exception: when the ground opened in 1847 it was laid out around a pre-existing

lime tree ''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Britain and Ireland they ...

, which was then about 40 years old. The presence of a tree within the playing area required special local rules. Shots that touched the tree were counted as a

four 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

, even if they ricocheted and cleared the boundary rope, and no batsman could be out caught off a rebound.Kent to replace the lime tree
CricInfo, 2005-03-08. Retrieved 2018-04-06.Sapsted D, Fenton B (2005
Cricket's famous lime tree stumped after 200 years
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', 2005-01-11. Retrieved 2018-04-06. Only four cricketers are known to have hit the ball over the tree to score a six: Arthur 'Jacko' Watson of Sussex in 1925, the West Indies'

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

in 1928,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

's Jim Smith in 1939, and Kent's Carl Hooper in 1992.The Lime Tree’s demise: ten years on
Kent County Cricket Club, 2015-01-08. Retrieved 2018-03-26. The tree was diagnosed with fungal

heart rot 300px, The bracket fungus '' Fistulina hepatica'' is one of many that cause heart rot. In trees, heart rot is a fungal disease that causes the decay of wood at the center of the trunk and branches. Fungi enter the tree through wounds in the bark ...

in the 1990s, so was

pollarded 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 oc ...

to encourage new growth. This reduced the height from over to around . On 7 January 2005 high winds caused the trunk to snap in two, killing the 200-year-old tree and leaving a stump. Wood from the dead tree was made into mementos and sold to supporters. A new lime tree was planted outside the playing area in 1999 by

EW Swanton Ernest William Swanton (11 February 1907 – 22 January 2000) was an English journalist and author, chiefly known for being a cricket writer and commentator under his initials, E. W. Swanton. He worked as a sports journalist for ''The Daily T ...

, with plans to use it as a replacement. The club moved it within the playing area on 8 March 2005, though it was then less than in height.Cricket club reveal new lime tree
BBC News, 2005-03-08. Retrieved 2011-01-06. Redevelopment of the north side of the ground in 2017 forced the boundary to be brought forward, so it is no longer possible for the tree to be part of the playing area.

Stands and structures

The ground includes five stands, four of which are named after famous Kent cricketers. These provide seating for over 2,500 spectators.Matchday Information – The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence
Kent County Cricket Club. Retrieved 2018-03-24.Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence (old website)
Kent County Cricket Club. Retrieved 2018-03-25.Henderson M (2014
Canterbury’s tale still has ability to charm during times of change
''

'', 2014-06-14. Retrieved 2018-03-25. Outdoor, uncovered seating provides another 3,400 seats. The

Frank Woolley Frank Edward Woolley (27 May 1887 – 18 October 1978) was an English professional cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club between 1906 and 1938 and for the England cricket team. A genuine all-rounder, Woolley was a left-handed batsman ...

Stand was built in 1927 to replace a wooden structure known as the Telegraph Stand, which had been used for journalists and the scorers. It is a two-tier, cantilevered stand which cost almost £6,000 to build and held almost 1,700 spectators when it was first built. It was one of the largest cantilevered stands in the world when opened, and was known as the Concrete Stand until being renamed to honour Frank Woolley in 1973.Kent County Cricket Club Announce Woolley Appeal Launch
Kent County Cricket Club, 2012-11-15. Retrieved 2018-03-25.Kent Cricket launch Woolley Stand Appeal
Kent County Cricket Club, 2013-01-13. Retrieved 2018-03-25. Woolley, who played for the county either side of World War I, is the county's leading run scorer and has made the most appearances for the side. He played 64 Test matches for England and was an inaugural member of the

ICC Cricket Hall of Fame The ICC Cricket Hall of Fame recognises "the achievements of the legends of the game from cricket's long and illustrious history". It was launched by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in Dubai on 2 January 2009, in association with the Fed ...

in 2009.ICC and FICA launch Cricket Hall of Fame
CricInfo, 2009-01-02. Retrieved 2018-03-25. The stand was refurbished in 1972 and in 2012 Kent launched an appeal to raise money to construct a new stand to replace the existing structure.Gidley A (2012
Kent County Cricket chiefs announce plans to refurbish Frank Woolley Stand
''

'', 2012-08-23. Retrieved 2018-03-25. The

Colin Cowdrey Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, (24 December 19324 December 2000) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Oxford University (1952–1954), Kent County Cricket Club (1950–1976) and England (1954–1975). Univers ...

Stand was built in the 1980s, partly financed by the sale of mementos after the pollarding of the lime tree that stood on the ground, and formally named after Kent's longest-serving captain during Canterbury Week in 1992.Kent's famous lime helps build new stand, ''

'', 1985-06-01, p.36. It is a three-storey stand with a conference room, club shop and outside seating for members on the ground floor. The Cornwallis Room, an indoor viewing area with catering facilities named after Stanley Cornwallis who captained the side in the 1920s, is on the first floor and the Harris Room, a function room with outdoor seating used for hospitality purposes and named after

Lord Harris Colonel George Robert Canning Harris, 4th Baron Harris, (3 February 1851 – 24 March 1932), generally known as Lord Harris, was a British colonial administrator and Governor of Bombay. He was also an English amateur cricketer, mainly active ...

, one of the club's most important personalities, is on the second floor.Pennell
Kent
The Cricket Writers' Club. Retrieved 2018-03-26.Your events
The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence. Retrieved 2018-03-25. The

Les Ames Leslie Ethelbert George Ames (3 December 1905 – 27 February 1990) was a wicket-keeper and batsman for the England cricket team and Kent County Cricket Club. In his obituary, ''Wisden'' described him as the greatest wicket-keeper-batsman of ...

Stand, closest to the Nackington Road entrance, has no public seating. Since redevelopment it consists of a public bar on the ground-floor level with 16 hospitality boxes and the main

scoreboard A scoreboard is a large board for publicly displaying the score in a game. Most levels of sport from high school and above use at least one scoreboard for keeping score, measuring time, and displaying statistics. Scoreboards in the past used ...

directly above.Heald T (2015) ''The character of cricket''. Dean Street Press.
Available online
Retrieved 2018-03-21). The scoreboard, which dates from the 1930s, is one of only two manual scoreboards still in use at any major county ground in England or Wales.Turbervill H (2017) County cricket in 100 objects – No. 1 Canterbury's manual scoreboard, ''

The Cricketer ''The Cricketer'' is a monthly English cricket magazine providing writing and photography from international, county and club cricket. The magazine was founded in 1921 by Sir Pelham Warner, an ex-England captain turned cricket writer. Warner ...

'', vol.15 no.2, November 2017, pp.80–81. The indoor cricket school, which stands behind the Cowdrey Stand, was rebuilt in the early 1990s and opened in 1992, replacing a previous building which had itself been rebuilt in 1976.Sports complex plan for Canterbury, ''

'', 1976-12-21. Retrieved 2018-03-26. An extension was added in 1995. It is named after Ames and

Hopper Levett William Howard Vincent "Hopper" Levett (25 January 1908 – 30 November 1995) was an English cricketer who played as a wicket-keeper for Kent County Cricket Club between 1930 and 1947. Levett was born at Goudhurst in Kent and educated at Brigh ...

, another of Kent's line of wicket-keepers. It includes indoor cricket nets and a sports hall as well as an outdoor astroturf surface and is the base for the Kent Cricket Academy which works with young players across the county. A sports and physiotherapy clinic operates from the same building and provides physiotherapy support to Kent's players.St Lawrence Clinic
Kent County Cricket Club. Retrieved 2018-03-26.Ex-Zimbabwe physio joins Kent set-up
''

'', 2018-02-27. Retrieved 2018-03-27. The Pavilion was built in 1900 on an area of the ground where tents had previously been pitched during Canterbury Week. It is a two-tiered building, originally housing a luncheon room, committee room and changing rooms on the ground floor with seating for spectators on the first-floor and veranda.Cricket
''

'', 1899-11-07, p. 7. Retrieved 2019-01-02. It is named the Chiesman Pavilion after a major benefactor of the club in the 1960s and 70s.Moseling M (2012
Credit Where Credit's Due
''A Cricket Sort of Chap'', 2012-06-19. Retrieved 2018-03-29. The ground floor contains a large room modelled on the Long Room at Lord's and the upper floor has seating for members. Mobile

sightscreen In cricket, a sight screen is an apparatus, often comprising wooden or poly-carbonate slats, or cloth sheeting, on a large frame made of wood or another material, that is positioned alongside the cricket field to provide the batsmen a clear vie ...

s run along the ground floor of the building as well as along the front of the Woolley Stand. The Annexe Stand was built in 1907 adjacent to the Pavilion, and includes seating on two levels. It was originally built as an annexe to the Pavilion for ladies and was renamed the Underwood and Knott Stand in 2011, recognising the bowler–wicket-keeper partnership of

Derek Underwood Derek Leslie Underwood (born 8 June 1945) is an English former international cricketer, and a former President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Through much of his career, Underwood was regarded as one of the best bowlers in Test cricket ...

and

Alan Knott Alan Philip Eric Knott (born 9 April 1946) is a former cricketer who represented England at international level in both Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODI). Knott is widely regarded as one of the most eccentric characters in cricket and as ...

.Kent legends unveil Underwood and Knott Stand during Canterbury Cricket Week
Kent County Cricket Club, 2011-08-11. Retrieved 2018-03-24. The stand contains a press room for journalists on the first floor and the Pavilion includes a radio commentary room. The gap between the two stands was filled in the 1970s by a set of changing rooms. This included an entrance to the field of play for players, who had previously walked through the Pavilion and on to the field through a gate at the front of the building, as at Lord's. The changing rooms were remodelled during redevelopment of the ground in 2010–11 and an extra floor added to the building. Both the Pavilion and the Annexe stands were refurbished at the same time. During the redevelopment of the ground, a set of offices were built adjacent to the Underwood and Knott Stand. These include a cafe on the ground floor, named after the ground's famous lime tree. The electronic scoreboard, which used to stand on this part of the ground, was moved to the northern side of the ground before being replaced, in 2017, by a new LCD scoreboard on the north-east corner of the ground.

Memorials

The Blythe Memorial was established on the ground in 1919 in remembrance of

and the other Kent players who had died during

. Blythe was Kent's leading bowler during the pre-war period and played

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...

for England. He was the most high-profile cricketer to die during the war when he was killed, aged 38, near

Ypres Ypres ( , ; nl, Ieper ; vls, Yper; german: Ypern ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality c ...

in October 1917 whilst serving in the Royal Engineers.Renshaw A (2014) 'Kent' in ''Wisden on the Great War: The Lives of Cricket's Fallen 1914–1918'' pp.23–26, A&C Black.
Available online
, retrieved 6 April 2016. The memorial was unveiled in August 1919 and commemorated Blythe and the 12 other Kent cricketers who died during the war. The names of 12 more men were added to it after

.Lewis ''op. cit.'', pp.345–348. It stood at the Old Dover Road entrance to the ground until 2010 when it was removed for safe keeping during redevelopment of the ground. The memorial was rededicated on the centenary of Blythe's death in 2018 on a new site at the Nackington Road entrance behind the Les Ames Stand.Blythe memorial re-dedicated to mark tragic centenary
Kent County Cricket Club, 9 November 2017. Retrieved 9 November 2017. Some of Blythe's personal possessions, including two wallets he was carrying when he was killed and which were torn by the shrapnel which killed him, are on display inside the Pavilion on the ground.Keeting F (2007
A poignant reminder of the talents stolen from sport
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 2007-11-13. Retrieved 2016-04-06. A memorial to

, who established the ground in 1847, was moved from his grave at St Gregory's church in the city to the ground in 1978.Tibbetts G (2008
Grave of Fuller Pilch, 19th century cricketer, delays £8 million concert hall
''

'', 2008-06-25. Retrieved 2018-03-29.Old picture solves grave mystery
BBC News, 2008-07-01. Retrieved 2018-03-29. The graveyard had fallen into disuse and the memorial was moved to the ground where it stood, near to the Blythe memorial, until redevelopment in 2010 when it was also removed for safe keeping to a stone mason's yard. The front of the Pavilion features a number of memorial plaques, including a memorial to the members of Band of Brothers, an amateur cricket club closest associated with Kent, who died during World War I and II and the bronze which was used to cast the original Fuller Pilch memorial.

Ground redevelopment

Building works at St Lawrence Ground (33927838955)

The club announced in late 2006 that it would seek to redevelop the ground. The planned £9 million development would include a hotel, health and fitness centre and conference facilities and would have involved the removal of the Les Ames Stand (the former Iron Stand) at the Nackington Road End of the ground, the oldest structure on the ground.Kent unveil vision for St Lawrence future
''

'', 2006-03-16. Retrieved 2018-03-28.Residents air fears over cricket ground plans
''

'', 2006-03-26. Retrieved 2018-03-28.Tennant I (2007
Canterbury tails are up over Kent redevelopment plans
''

'', 2007-06-27. Retrieved 2018-03-28. The plans involved the upgrading of the pavilion and other stands on the ground. Money for the project would be raised by the building of private housing on the nets behind the pavilion and on the car park of the local pub, the ''Bat and Ball''. The plans were controversial and the Kent Committee suggested that if they were not approved by the membership of the club that an alternative might be to move the county's headquarters to a ground closer to the M25 in order to attract more spectators.Contentious plans set to be hot topic at Kent AGM
''

'', 2007-03-15. Retrieved 2018-03-28.Kent members back St Lawrence redevelopment plans
''

'', 2007-09-06. Retrieved 2018-03-28. Following problems associated with the global economic downturn the redevelopment plans were put on indefinite "hold" in 2008.Redevelopment of Kent's St Lawrence Cricket Ground is back on the cards
''

'', 2009-09-02. Retrieved 2018-03-24.Tennant I (2008
Canterbury feels the crunch
CricInfo, 2008-07-28. Retrieved 2018-03-26.Recession stumps Kent's plans to redevelop St Lawrence Ground
''

'', 2008-12-10. Retrieved 2018-04-02. The plans were resurrected in summer 2009 and in March 2010 the club confirmed that

Bellway Bellway plc is a residential property developer and home construction, housebuilder based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The company was fou ...

would be its housing partner for the redevelopment project after the financial collapse of

Persimmon Homes Persimmon plc is a British housebuilding company, headquartered in York, England. The company is named after a horse which won the 1896 Derby and St. Leger for the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII). It is listed on the London Stock Ex ...

, the original housing developer.Bellway announced as cricket club development partner
''

'', 2010-03-27. Retrieved 2018-03-28.Kent captain Rob Key helps start work on St Lawrence Ground redevelopment
''

'', 2010-09-28. Retrieved 2018-03-28. Work started in September 2010 on developing the ground.Kent Cricket Club's Canterbury ground revamp under way
BBC News, 2010-09-27. Retrieved 2018-03-24. Five permanent, retractable floodlight pylons were installed in the 2010–11 off-season and the dressing rooms were refurbished and redeveloped.Pictures: St Lawrence revamp snaps will bowl you over
''

'', 2010-11-17. Retrieved 2018-03-28. The floodlights replaced temporary lights which had proved unreliable in strong winds and had restricted the county's ability to play evening

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single inn ...

matches.Hoad A (2009
Floodlit cricket off the agenda at Kent
''

'', 2009-11-26. Retrieved 2018-03-28. Land behind the Pavilion was sold to Bellway in 2011Hoad A (2011
Land sale helps Kent County Cricket Club profits
''

'', 2011-01-13. Retrieved 2018-03-28. and in March 2012 a new

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...

Local convenience store opened. This faces out of the ground and occupies the ground floor of the new club administration building alongside the Lime Tree Cafe inside the ground.Kent County Cricket Club welcomes Sainsbury's to the St Lawrence Ground
Kent County Cricket Club, 2012-03-14. Retrieved 2013-02-19. The building was partly funded by a loan from Canterbury City Council.Kent offered loan for development
CricInfo, 2012-01-13. Retrieved 2018-03-29. In 2013, the club announced they had been unable to find a partner for the hotel and fitness centre and instead hoped to build 60 retirement flats on the northern side of the ground.Miles
Kent hope to build retirement flats at St Lawrence Ground
''Kent News''. Retrieved 2013-03-14
Archived
on 2018-02-08. Canterbury City Council initially rejected the planning application in late 2014,Planning application for retirement apartments refused
Kent County Cricket Club, 2014-12-10. Retrieved 2018-02-08. but the decision was overturned and construction began in 2016 and was completed by the start of the 2018 season.Update on McCarthy and Stone development at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence
Kent County Cricket Club, 2016-03-25. Retrieved 2018-02-08. The new plans were restricted to the northern edge of the ground along the Old Dover Road and ensured that the Les Ames Stand was retained on the ground. The development was opened in 2017 and named ''Freeman House'' in honour of Kent's leading wicket-taker,

Tich Freeman Alfred Percy "Tich" Freeman (17 May 1888 – 28 January 1965) was an English first-class cricketer. A leg spin bowler for Kent County Cricket Club and England, he is the only man to take 300 wickets in an English season, and is the second most p ...

.New building to be named in honour of Tich Freeman
Kent County Cricket Club, 2016-12-22. Retrieved 2018-04-11. At the same time, a new electronic scoreboard was installed near to the apartments.

Transport

The ground is located south-east of the centre of

on the B2068 Old Dover Road. The Nackington Road runs along the eastern edge of the ground. It is from

Canterbury East railway station Canterbury East railway station is on the Dover branch of the Chatham Main Line in England, and is one of two stations serving the city of Canterbury, Kent. The station and all trains that serve the station are operated by Southeastern. Locatio ...

on the London Victoria to Dover line.

Canterbury West railway station Canterbury West railway station is a Grade II listed railway station, and the busier of the two stations in Canterbury in Kent, England. The station as well as all services are operated by Southeastern with both main line and high speed trains s ...

, on the other side of the city centre, is away and is on the London Charing Cross to Ramsgate line and High Speed 1 from

London St Pancras St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a London station group, central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Bor ...

Margate Margate is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Westbrook. The town has been a significan ...

.The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence
Kent County Cricket Club. Retrieved 2018-04-06. Although it remains possible to park cars on the boundary edge, redevelopment has restricted the number that can be driven onto the ground and parking is now restricted to car-parking season-ticket holders, with a small number of parking spaces reserved for disabled drivers. Car parking is available for some days at

Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School Simon Langton Girls’ Grammar School is a single-sex voluntary controlled grammar school in Canterbury, Kent, England. The school originated in the Middle Ages as an educational foundation for children in Canterbury, emerging as a separate schoo ...

, which is adjacent to the ground on the Nackington Road side, while Canterbury City Council's large Old Dover Road park-and-ride facility is within a 10–15 minutes' walk from the ground. Canterbury Park and Ride buses stop immediately outside the ground on their way into the city, and other local bus services serve the ground either from outside it or on the A2050 New Dover Road from the entrance to the ground.Park and ride
Canterbury City Council. Retrieved 2018-04-06.

Other uses

The ground has been used for a number of music concerts, beginning with Elton John who appeared at the ground in 2006.Club announces two major concerts
Kent County Cricket Club, 2009-03-23. Retrieved 2018-03-25. In recent years, concerts, which take place during the summer using a temporary stage at the Nackington Road end of the ground, have featured artists such as Madness,

Olly Murs Oliver Stanley Murs (born 14 May 1984) is an English singer, songwriter, and television presenter. He was runner-up on the sixth series of '' The X Factor'' in 2009 and was subsequently signed to RCA Records and Sony Music in the United Kingdom ...

Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...

, Tom Jones, and

Michael Bublé Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer. A four-time Grammy Award winner, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American Songboo ...

.Grandslam Madness draws 12,500 to The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence
Kent County Cricket Club, 2015-09-14. Retrieved 2018-03-25. It has been used as a venue for the

Canterbury Festival The Canterbury Festival is Kent's international festival of the arts. It takes place in Canterbury (England) and surrounding towns and villages (including Faversham, Whitstable and Margate) each October/November and includes performances of a vari ...

, an arts festival held in the city each autumn, hosting the

Spiegeltent A spiegeltent (Dutch for "mirror tent", from '' spiegel''+''tent'') is a large travelling tent, constructed from wood and canvas and decorated with mirrors and stained glass, intended as an entertainment venue. Originally built in Belgium during ...

.Canterbury Festival 2015: Spiegeltent returns to The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence
Kent County Cricket Club, 2015-10-01. Retrieved 2018-03-25. Rooms at the ground can be hired for a number of purposes and the cafe and cricket shop open throughout the year.Lime Tree Cafe
The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence. Retrieved 2018-03-25.Wolfe S (2016
Club shop a success at Kent Cricket
''Kent Sport News'', 2016-04-29. Retrieved 2018-03-25. A fireworks display is held at the ground annually around Guy Fawkes Night.MacDougall L (2017
Fireworks at the Kent County Cricket Club - all you need to know about the Spitfire Ground's big display in Canterbury
''Kent Live'', 2017-10-19. Retrieved 2018-03-25.

Records on the ground

Over 600 first-class and 350 List A matches have been played on the ground. ''All records last updated 30 November 2021''

First-class cricket

*Highest total: 676 by the

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Australians, several (or all) ...

against Kent, 1921 *Lowest total: 30 by Gentlemen of England against

Gentlemen of Kent 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 Ke ...

, 1859 *Highest partnership: 423 unbroken, 2nd wicket by JM Cox and JA Leaning, for Kent against Sussex, 2020 *Highest individual score: 344,

for Gentlemen of the MCC against Kent, 1876 *Best bowling in an innings: 10/69, EM Grace for Gentlemen of the MCC against Kent, 1862 *Best bowling in a match: 18/96, H Arkwright for Gentlemen of the MCC against Gentlemen of Kent, 1861

List A cricket

*Highest total: 425/1 by England Lions against Sri Lanka A, 2016 *Lowest total: 60 by

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

against Kent, 2008 *Highest partnership: 367, 2nd wicket by DJ Bell-Drummond and BM Duckett for England Lions against Sri Lanka A, 2016 *Highest individual score: 220

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

, BM Duckett for England Lions against Sri Lanka A, 2016 *Best bowling: 6/17, AJ Hollioake for Surrey against Kent, 2003

Twenty20 cricket

*Highest total: 250/6 by Surrey against Kent, 2018 *Lowest total: 93 by

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

against Kent, 2009 *Highest partnership: 169, 1st wicket by T Banton and DP Conway for

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

against Kent, 2021 *Highest individual score: 129, DT Christian for

against Kent, 2014 *Best bowling: 5/21,

Imran Qayyum Imran Qayyum (born 23 May 1993) is an English former professional cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club.

for Kent against Somerset, 2019

Notes

References

External links

Official websiteThe Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence
at Kent County Cricket Club
St Lawrence Ground
at Cricinfo {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Lawrence Grund Kent County Cricket Club Cricket grounds in Kent Sport in Canterbury Sports venues completed in 1847 1847 establishments in England 1999 Cricket World Cup stadiums