Moulsey Hurst is in

West Molesey Molesey is a district of two twin towns, East Molesey and West Molesey, in the Borough of Elmbridge, Surrey, England, and is situated on the south bank of the River Thames. East and West Molesey share a high street, and there is a second retai ...

, Surrey on the south bank of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

above

Molesey Lock Molesey Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England at East Molesey, Surrey on the right bank. The lock was built by the City of London Corporation in 1815 and was rebuilt by the Thames Conservancy in 1906. It is the second longest on the ri ...

. It is one of England's oldest

sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

ing venues and was used in the 18th and 19th centuries for

cricket 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 ...

prizefighting Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

and other sports. This area is now called Hurst Park; the area currently called Molesey Hurst is smaller, and some 500m to the south. The site can be reached from

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia *Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria Canada * Hampton, New Brunswick *Ha ...

across the river by Hampton Ferry when it is running in the summer.

Sporting venue

When

James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

became King of England in 1603, he introduced the sport of

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

to the country. The first games of golf in England were played at Molesey, in Westminster and Greenwich Park which were large open spaces near to royal palaces. This venue is considered to be one of the oldest used for organised cricket. The earliest known use of the site for the game was in 1723 for a match between a Surrey side and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. 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 Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

David Underdown David Edward Underdown (19 August 1925 – 26 September 2009) was a historian of 17th-century England, English politics and culture and Professor Emeritus at Yale University. Born at Wells, Somerset, Underdown was educated at The Blue School, Well ...

(2000) ''Start of Play''. Allen Lane. It hosted for some decades

Hurst Park Hurst Park Racecourse was a racecourse at Moulsey Hurst, West Molesey, Surrey, near the River Thames. It was first laid out in 1890 and held its last race in 1962. There was racing at nearby Hampton for many years until 1887. The first meeting a ...

horse race Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

course, evinced by an 1872 Ordnance Survey map. The cricket ground probably remained 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; the current ground now lies off Graburn Way, about east and a short walk from

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

. Molesey Hurst Golf Club (now defunct) was founded in 1907. The club disappeared at the onset of WW2. Other sports and activities included ballooning, sprinting and archery.

Moulsey Hurst today

In 2004, Hurst Park Residents Association laid out a "heritage marker" close to the river, which contains a number of illustrations of the history and activities of the area.

Chronology of events

* 871 – Vikings sailed up the Thames here to sack Chertsey Abbey * 1723 – the earliest known use of the site for cricket: Surrey v. London * 1733 – earliest known use of the site for an inter-county match when

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

played

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

* May 1785 – James Sadler made a hot air balloon ascent near here, accompanied by a member of parliament, about a year after the success of the

Montgolfier Brothers The Montgolfier brothers – Joseph-Michel Montgolfier (; 26 August 1740 – 26 June 1810) and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier (; 6 January 1745 – 2 August 1799) – were aviation pioneers, balloonists and paper manufacturers from the commune A ...

balloon * Autumn 1787 – a professional runner named Powell ran a mile in 4 minutes and 3 seconds at Moulsey Hurst in preparation for an attempt on the 4-minute mile * August 1795 – in a cricket match at Moulsey Hurst, John Tufton was dismissed

leg before wicket Leg before wicket (lbw) is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed in the sport of cricket. Following an appeal by the fielding side, the umpire may rule a batter out lbw if the ball would have struck the wicket but was instead in ...

by John Wells, the first time the mode of dismissal is recorded.''Scores & Biographies'', Volume 1 (1744–1826), Lillywhite, 1862, page 191. * 1798 – a Mr Troward, a member of the Toxophilite Society, shot an arrow on a level piece of ground on Moulsey Hurst seventeen score, or 340 yards * 1806 – last known use of Moulsey Hurst for a

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 officiall ...

match was a Surrey v England match.Cricket Archive – Surrey v All-England
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References

{{Elmbridge 1726 establishments in Great Britain Boxing venues in the United Kingdom Cricket grounds in Surrey Defunct cricket grounds in England Defunct sports venues in Surrey Borough of Elmbridge English cricket venues in the 18th century History of Surrey Parks and open spaces in Surrey Sport in Surrey Sports venues completed in 1726