The Artillery Ground in Finsbury is one of London's most centrally located cricket grounds, situated just off the City Road immediately north of the City of London. It has belonged to the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) since 1638 and is nowadays surrounded by the Company's headquarters and numerous office buildings.
From 1498, about 11 acres (4.5 ha) of the 23-acre (9.3 ha) Bunhill Fields were set aside for the practice of archery and shooting. Today's 8-acre (3.2 ha) site was given to the Artillery Company on its formation.
It is best known as an historic cricket venue and the home of the original London Cricket Club. For many years before the creation of the Hambledon Club in the 1760s, the Artillery Ground was the featured venue of all London cricket. It eventually fell into disrepute because of uncontrolled gambling and ceased to be used for major cricket, the last known match taking place in 1778 some years after the London Club had disbanded.
Read more about Artillery Ground: 18th Century Cricket, Keepers of The Artillery Ground, Later History, Today
Famous quotes containing the words artillery and/or ground:
“We now demand the light artillery of the intellect; we need the curt, the condensed, the pointed, the readily diffused—in place of the verbose, the detailed, the voluminous, the inaccessible. On the other hand, the lightness of the artillery should not degenerate into pop-gunnery—by which term we may designate the character of the greater portion of the newspaper press—their sole legitimate object being the discussion of ephemeral matters in an ephemeral manner.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1845)
“Bonnie Lee: Why doesn’t he jump?
Kidd Dabb: Why, why should he jump? He’s made of rubber, he is. He wants to hit the ground to see how high he can bounce.”
—Jules Furthman (1888–1960)