# Lewes Priory Cricket Club

Lewes Priory is a cricket club based in Lewes, England. The club is based at the Stanley Turner Ground, Kingston road, Lewes. The Saturday 1st XI plays in the 2nd division of the Sussex Cricket League. The Saturday 2nd XI plays in the 2nd XI Division 2 of the Sussex Cricket League. The Saturday 3rd XI plays in Division 9 of the East Sussex Cricket League. There is also a Sunday XI and an occasional midweek XI that play friendly matches.
Lewes Priory has a large junior section and was clubmark accredited until October 2014. The club runs sides from under-8s/9s to an under-16 development XI Quite a few of the Lewes Priory junior players play area cricket, eastern eagles, southern sabres etc. The current under 16 team features a player who plays for sussex academy.
Lewes Priory is associated with the annual wandering side Lewes Nomads. In the summer of 2013 and 2014 their tour is to the Isle of Wight.
Some matches are held at Falmer. Lewes (and the locations of the home games of Lewes Priory Cricket Club) are six minutes by train/bus from the University of Sussex.

## Honours

* Sussex Cricket League
** Premier Division champions 1986, 1990
** Division 2 champions 1999, 2006, 2008

## History

The origin of the club extends back to at least 1831 when Mr J. Longford (one of the local brewers) bought 10 acres of the Lewes Priory Grounds from the Earl of Chichester and made some of the grounds known as the 'Dripping Pan' available for cricket

### Timeline of club history

| Date | Event |
| 1816 | Window bill for a cricket match to be played on Lewes Hill, near the race stand on Wednesday 4 September 1816. The match was to be between the Gentlemen of Patcham, Poynings, Pycombe and Newtimber with one given Man against the Lewes club. The game was to be played for 50 guineas and the wickets were to be pitched at 9am. The printer was Baxter of Lewes. The originals of the window bill is in the Sussex Record Offices. |
| 1817 | Window bill advertises a Grand Match of Cricket to be played on Lewes Hill near the Race Stand on Tuesday 2 September 1817 between the Gentlemen of the Brighton against the Gentlemen of the Town of Lewes. It also states that if the morning should appear unfavourable the match would be played in Houndean Bottom. The return match was to be played on Monday 8 September. It also states that "Lambert's Cricketer's Guide, containing the Laws, Bats, Balls, &c, may be had on the Ground". Printed by Baxter of Lewes. The Lewes team is given as: Verral, Rider, Baxter, Green, Lambert, Raynes, Martin, Holmden, Hoye, Venus and Thomas Dexter. The Brighton team is given as Stevens, James Dale, W. Dench, Newel, H Morley, Roff, Hart, J Slater, Evershed, Harriott and Burr. A note states that W. Dench was "whipper-in" to the Brighton hounds. Brighton won by 4 wickets: Lewes 57 and 47; Brighton 57 and 48 for 6. |
| 1818 | A draft window bill advertises the return match of cricket between the Gentlemen of Lindfield against an unidentified side of gentlemen. It is undated but was found with material dated after 24 August 1818. |
| 1831 | Club formally established and based at Dripping Pan site in Lewes, close to priory remains |
| 1836 | Entry in the Sussex Weekly Advertiser (Monday 18 July) states: "The return match between the Chalvington Club and the Priory Club will come off this day in the above grounds... and the return match between the Priory and Southern Clubs will be played in the park at Firle Place, on the 25th Inst." |
| 1839 | Window bill advertises match between "Eleven youths of Lewes and eleven of Brighton, all under 14 Years of Age. Match dated 5th September. Organised by W Lillywhite on his ground. A contemporary jotting notes the match was won easily by the Lewes youths. The Brighton list includes J Wisden, as well as Jas and John Lillywhite." |
| 1881 August | Lewes priory cricket club "Cricket Week" included notable opponents in the sporting team I Zingari and the Hurst College (a Woodard foundation school) |
| 1908 | Leicestershire fast bowler Arthur Woodcock represented MCC in match against Lewes Priory CC. At this game at the dripping pan he is noted to have "bowled a bail off the wicket 149 feet six inches, sending it over a fourteen feet bank and a wall on the boundary". |
| 1908 (12-13 August) | Lewes Priory played the United Services at Portsmouth. Priory made 138 and 296 against the United Service's 541. Notable scores were: Commander HDR Watson 101, Lieutenant OE Leggett 101, Commander BS Evans 102 and Staff Sergeant NJ Roche 100> |
| 1934 (4 April) | Date of Stanley Turner Trust Deed to create the Stanley Turner Recreation Ground. This states that "no buildings shall be erected thereon except pavilions, stands or other buildings necessary for the use of the land as a public recreation ground and that in no event shall it be used for the erection of houses" and that "So far as is practicable English timber only shall be used in the erection of gates fences pergolas seats and other wooden erections on the said land" |
| 1944 | Lewes Priory CC donated £25 to the Daily Sketch War Relief Fund |

### Club captains

1960 H. Pett 1961 J. Winter 1962 J. Winter 1963 R. C. Cosham 1964 R. C. Cosham 1965 R. C. Cosham 1966 J. O'Connor 1967 J. O'Connor 1968 J. O'Connor 1969 R. C. Cosham 1970 S. B. Hughes 1972 S. B. Hughes 1973 C. H. Johnson 1974 C. H. Johnson 1975 J. O'Connor 1976 J. O'Connor 1977 J. O'Connor 1978 J. O'Connor 1979 J. O'Connor 1980 J. Leckey 1981 B. Holding 1982 B. Holding 1983 B. Holding 1984 R. Seager 1985 R. Seager 1986 R. Seager 1987 R. Seager 1988 C. Hartridge 1989 C. Hartridge 1990 J. Roycroft 1991 J. Roycroft 2000 K. Ibrahim 2001 K. Ibrahim 2002 M. Murray 2003 M. Murray 2004 M. Murray 2005 M. Murray 2006 M. Murray 2007 M. Murray 2008 M. Murray 2009 M. Murray 2010 C. Baker 2011 M. Murray 2012 T. Sharp 2013 R. Eborn 2014 J. Bates 2015 unknown 2016 I. Khan 2017 I. Khan 2018 I. Khan 2019 I. Khan

### Club Presidents

To 1981 Rt Hon. Viscount Gage KCVO 1982-1985 S. B. Hughes, Esq 1986-1984 J. P. Beilby, Esq 1995-1996 R. J. Hayward 1996-1999 R. C. Cosham 2000 to date J. A. O'Connor

### Notable members

* Herbert Whitfield
* Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield
* Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon
* Alfred Mynn
* George Spillman represented Middlesex CCC. Died c1911
* George Kent (1907-1980): Captain of Lewes Priory Cricket Club and Lewes Rugby Football Club. Kent served as president of the Sussex County Rugby Football Club, was a committee member of the Sussex County Cricket Club, chairman of the Lewes Building Society and the Sussex County Building Society. He was Conservative district counsellor for Kingston in 1973 and served as chairman of Lewes District Council
* Brian Lessiter played cricket for Cornwall and Sussex second eleven.
* Jon Roycroft director of sport at Oxford University
* Bob Gardner played for Leicestershire. Play for Lewes Priory CC for two seasons as opening batsman (his batting average in one year was 54; the next 61)
* Les Bampton a leg spin and googly bowler who captained the Club Cricket Conference for several years. Took 300 wickets twice in a season

#### Sussex CCC players

Since 1938 at least six Lewes Priory players have played for Sussex, including:
* Doug Smith, fast bowler who played for Sussex before the second world war
* D. J. Smith
* P. G. Laker
* Ralph Cowen:
* Carl Hopkinson, current fielding coach at Sussex CCC
* Paul Phillipson

#### England players

* Rosalie Birch

#### Overseas players and members

* K.G.N. (Kyron) Lynch (Trinidad & Tobago)
* Amit Jaggernauth (Trinidad & Tobago offspinner)
* Rayad Emrit (Trinidad & Tobago off)
* Suren Perera (Sri Lanka and Ragama cricket club)
* Kashif Ibrahim
* Indrajit Coomaraswamy
* John Boyd played top grade cricket for Waverley cricket club in Sydney, Australia