Rectory Field is a sports ground in Blackheath in the

Royal Borough of Greenwich The Royal Borough of Greenwich (, , or ) is a London borough in southeast Greater London, England. The London Borough of Greenwich was formed in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. The new borough covered the former area of the Metropolita ...

in south-east

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. It was developed in the 1880s by Blackheath Cricket, Football and Lawn Tennis Company and became the home ground of

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

team

Blackheath F.C. Blackheath Football Club is a rugby union club based in Well Hall, Eltham, in south-east London. The club was founded in Blackheath in 1858 and is the oldest open rugby club in continuous existence in the world. The Blackheath club also assi ...

between 1883 and 2016.A brief history of the club
Blackheath Sports Club. Retrieved 2017-11-27. The ground has hosted international rugby matches and at one time, along with the

Richmond Athletic Ground Built in 1886, and located in Richmond upon Thames, London, the Athletic Ground is a rugby ground, managed by Richmond Athletic Association, home to RFU Championship side London Scottish and National League 1 side Richmond. The first team ...

, it was the unofficial home of the

England national rugby union team The England national rugby union team represents the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in international rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France national rugby union team, France, Ireland national rugby union team, ...

before the development of

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium (; usually known as Twickenham, and for sponsorship purposes known as the Allianz Stadium Twickenham) is a rugby union stadium in Twickenham, London, England. It is owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the English rugby u ...

. The ground was also used for first-class and

List A cricket List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the num ...

Kent County Cricket Club 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 Ken ...

between 1887 and 1972. The field is named after the Charlton Rectory that once stood at the site. It is used today by Blackheath Sports Club for cricket, rugby, tennis and squash.Welcome to Rectory Field
Blackheath Sports Club. Retrieved 2016-08-30.
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 2006-08-01. Retrieved 2016-08-30.

Location

Rectory Field is located east of Greenwich town centre, around north-east of the Sun in the Sands roundabout, the junction of the main A2 and A102. The main entrance to the ground is on the B212 Charlton Road with the A207 running to the south of the ground.Explorer Map 162 – Greenwich & Gravesend,

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

, 2015-09-16.

Establishment and history

Located slightly away from the centre of Blackheath, Rectory Field is situated east of

Greenwich Park Greenwich Park is a former hunting park in Greenwich and one of the largest single green spaces in south-east London. One of the eight Royal Parks of London, and the first to be enclosed (in 1433), it covers , and is part of the Greenwich World H ...

. Before the adoption of the ground sport had been played on the Blackheath grounds, or Heath, for many years.

Blackheath Football Club Blackheath Football Club is a rugby union club based in Well Hall, Eltham, in south-east London. The club was founded in Blackheath in 1858 and is the oldest open rugby club in continuous existence in the world. The Blackheath club also assi ...

played on the Heath from 1871, but as the popularity of the sport grew, games began attracting crowds. After a match with Richmond was abandoned in 1877 due to a pitch invasion the club adopted a proper, demarked ground. One of the club members, Maurice Henry Richardson, knew of a part of the heath that was owned by his father and the club rented this part of the park for their matches. This pitch become known as Richardson's Field, and this playing ground hosted several internationals, including the first rugby match between

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

in 1881. Richardson's Field was bought for commercial use in 1882–83, and the team were forced to find a new ground. The club captain, Lennard Stokes located a new ground for the club, just east of the old Richardson Field on the Charlton Road. This location was a plot which would become the Rectory Field. Cricket was first played on the ground in 1886 after Blackheath Cricket Club secretary Montague Druitt negotiated the use of the Rectory Field during the summer months. With several sports now using the ground, the Blackheath Cricket, Football and Lawn Tennis Company was formed to provide amenities for the players.

Rugby history

first played at Rectory Field in 1883. The first match on the ground was against

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital founded by philanthropist Thomas Guy in 1721, located in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the Kin ...

. On 2 January 1886, Rectory Field hosted its first international rugby union match, with England facing Wales as part of the 1886 Home Nations Championship. With England withdrawing from international rugby in late 1887, the field was not used by the national team again until the arrival of the world's first touring Southern Hemisphere rugby team, the New Zealand Māori in 1889. England continued to use three sites for international rugby, Rectory Field, the Athletic Ground in Richmond and Whalley Range in Manchester, but after 1900, only the two London locations were used. In 1910, Twickenham became the new stadium for the England team, but not before Rectory Field was allowed one last historic international when it hosted the first touring

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

rugby team in 1909. When the initial lease expired, the Rectory Field was in danger of being sold for commercial development. After £9,000 was raised through

debenture In corporate finance, a debenture is a medium- to long-term debt instrument used by large companies to borrow money, at a fixed rate of interest. The legal term "debenture" originally referred to a document that either creates a debt or acknowle ...

s, the field was purchased in 1921, providing a permanent home for the cricket and rugby teams. Directly after the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Richmond and Blackheath merged for a season, and several other teams were allowed the use of the grounds, including

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champion ...

. On 30 April 2016 Blackheath F.C. played their final first team game at the Rectory Field, defeating Blaydon 45–17. After 133 years at the ground, the club had decided to move to their training ground, Well Hall in

Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three ...

, for the 2016–17 season in order to boost revenue, although the ground remains in use by the club for other teams. The ground is now home to Askeans RFC, who took over a lease having moved out of Well Hall in 2021.

Cricketing history

The first cricket match to be played on the Rectory Field was between Blackheath and GG Hearne's XI on 26 April 1886.Leighton, D. J. (2006) ''Ripper Suspect: The Secret Lives of Montague Druitt'', p.45. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing. . The first

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 ...

match on the ground was held in 1887 when

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

played

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

.First-Class matches played on The Rectory Field, Blackheath
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-11-27. Kent went on to play regularly at the ground until 1971, playing a total of 84 home first-class matches on the ground with at least one match each season from 1905. The majority of matches were against Surrey, whose ground at

The Oval The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club sinc ...

is less than away.Rectory Field

CricInfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

. Retrieved 2017-11-27. The final first-class match was against

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

in June 1971.Grounds Records in ''Kent County Cricket Club Annual 2017'', pp.210–211. Canterbury:

. Kent also played three

matches at Blackheath, one each in 1969, 1970 and 1972.List A matches played on The Rectory Field, Blackheath
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-11-27. The ground was used by the Kent Second XI between 1921 and 1936 for

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship or National County Championship is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national counties (previously ca ...

matches and one Second XI match was played at Blackheath in 1987.The Rectory Field, Blackheath
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-11-27. Kent have had a long history of playing at grounds in what the club terms "Metropolitan Kent".Clifford J (2016) 'Welcome to the Kent County Ground, Beckenham' in ''Match Guide'', 2016-06-03. Canterbury:

. Grounds in nearby

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. Prior to 1965, it was part of Kent. It is situated north of Elmers End and Eden Park, east of Penge, south of Lower Sydenham and Bellingham, and west ...

, Crystal Palace,

Catford Catford is a district in south east London, England, and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Lewisham. It is southwest of Lewisham itself, mostly in the Rushey Green (ward), Rushey Green and Catford South Ward (electoral subdivi ...

and

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

have all also been used by the club in the past for a total of more than 150 matches and the first match played by the county club after its foundation in 1842 was played at White Hart Field in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

. The club stopped using the ground at Blackheath due a wish to consolidate at its main

St Lawrence Ground The St Lawrence Ground is a cricket ground in Canterbury, Kent. 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 o ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

and as a result of issues with car parking and the quality of the outfield.History
Blackheath Cricket Club. Retrieved 2017-11-27. Future Kent and

bowler Colin Blythe was first spotted bowling at Rectory Field. Before the start of the final days play in the County Championship match between Kent and

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

in July 1897, Blythe was asked to bowl at Kent's Walter Wright to provide some practice. He was watched by William McCanlis who was the manager of Kent's Tonbridge Nursery, the county's recently established professional player development centre based at the Angel Ground in

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) (historic spelling ''Tunbridge'') is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Mall ...

, and was invited to a trial. Blythe, who had grown up in nearby

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century ...

, went on to become one of the leading bowlers of the period before the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, playing 381 times for Kent and making 19 Test match appearances for England.Colin Blythe 1879-1917

, 2017-11-08. Retrieved 2017-11-09.Haigh G (2006
Blythe's canvas immortality

, 2006-08-01. Retrieved 2017-11-09. In local cricket the ground has been used by Blackheath Cricket Club, who play in the Kent Cricket League, since 1886. The club operates ten league sides and a youth section, playing at the Rectory Field and at other grounds in the area.Background
Blackheath Cricket Club. Retrieved 2017-11-27.

Records on the ground

A total of 84 first-class and three List A matches were played on the ground, all featuring Kent as the home side. *Highest total: 560 for 6 declared by

against

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, 1959 *Lowest total: 51 by Essex against Kent, 1964 *Highest partnership: 343, 3rd wicket by Paul Gibb and Dick Horsfall, for Essex against Kent, 1951 *Highest individual score: 250,

Colin Cowdrey Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, (24 December 1932 – 4 December 2000) was an English cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club from 1950 to 1976, and in 114 Test matches for England from 1954 to 1975. He was born i ...

, for Kent against Essex, 1959 *Best bowling in an innings: 10/54, Tony Lock, for

against Kent, 1956 *Best bowling in a match: 16/83, Tony Lock, for Surrey against Kent, 1956 In the three List A matches held on the ground the highest team score was 201 for 8, recorded by

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

in the ground's first List A match in 1969. The total was scored from 39 overs. The highest individual score was 69 runs, made by Kent's Brian Luckhurst in the same match. The last List A match on the ground, against Surrey in 1972, finished with the scores tied, Surrey winning the match after losing fewer wickets.

Other sports

Tennis has been played on the ground since it was created. Eight hard and three grass tennis courts are situated to the north of the rugby and cricket ground. All of the courts are floodlit.Blackheath Lawn Tennis Club
Retrieved 2017-11-28. Two squash courts were built on the southern side of the site in 1937 and remain in use.

References

External links

on CricInfo {{RFU Championship Venues Rugby union stadiums in England Sports venues in London Defunct cricket grounds in England Sport in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Blackheath, London Sports venues completed in 1873 Conservation areas in London