South Weald History

South Weald - Past, Present & Future

Past

Following a meeting held by local residents of South Weald in the now redundant Tower Arms Pub, the club was formed in 1927.

Cricket was initially played on a piece of ground lent to us by the Tower Arms pub before moving to a pitch that 'The London Hospital' (Rochetts in South Weald) kindly let us use, playing in front of the ‘old house’.

In 1972 we moved to our now established ground off Sandpit Lane following a 'club appeal' in the same year encouraging members to help support the move (full article here). The land being steeped in history. It is known that there was a fortified hillfort here from early times, believed to be Iron Age, certainly some 500 years B.C. Sites of this nature are rare throughout the country and as such the ground is listed as a 'scheduled monument'. For more information, please visit the article here.

The ground was also used (alongside Weald Country Park) as a deer-park through much of the medieval period as well as more recently during WWII where post-war some of site was levelled to provide for a cricket pitch.

You can see a detailed account of the history of South Weald CC here.

South Weald CC - 1961

South Weald 1st XI 2018

Present

Nowadays, we are lucky enough to have a large pavilion and Clubhouse which provides comfortable home and away changing rooms, a large shower suite, well equipped bar, kitchen, toilets and social space.

The site is fully serviced with mains utilities, upgrading and expansion are planned as finances allow. Funds we might earn from any potential relationship will be put into maintaining and improving our heritage and to furthering village cricket, notably through youth work.

We pride ourselves as a club that is diverse, friendly and community oriented. We offer social and corporate event facilities, individual social (and playing) memberships and always welcome new members into the club.

We currently field two Saturday and one Sunday men's team, a T20 side and multiple junior teams.

Future

In an age where so many other cricket clubs are struggling, we aim to thrive. We are fortunate to have a great junior section and recognise this is key for the future of the club.

Whilst we are proud of the foundations we’ve built and the traditional side of our club, we also realise that to remain a strong and successful club, we need to strive for continual improvement where possible.

We have a number of projects that will run over the next few years with the aim of developing the club and making sure cricket can be played at our ground for many more years to come.