Southampton Old Bowling Green
Encyclopedia
Southampton Old Bowling Green, situated on the corner of Lower Canal Walk and Platform Road, Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

, England is the world's oldest surviving bowling green
Bowling green
A bowling green is a finely-laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of lawn for playing the game of lawn bowls.Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on them...

 having been first used in 1299.

History

The Hospital of "God's House" was originally founded in 1185 for pilgrims who were going either to the shrine of St Swithun at Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...

 or to Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....

; it now houses a museum of archaeology.

The green adjoining the God's House Hospital had been established during the reign of Richard I the Lionheart for the recreational use of the Warden, and was first used for a game of bowls
Bowls
Bowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll slightly asymmetric balls so that they stop close to a smaller "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a pitch which may be flat or convex or uneven...

 in 1299.

The club that plays there now is believed to have been established in the 17th Century because of the history of a competition known as the "Knighthood". It is also the only club that has a "Master" in charge, a title carried forward from the earliest of days.

The Knighthood

A unique occurrence called the "Knighthood" competition is held annually when the members play in top hats and frocked tails suits, the winner being allowed the title of "sir", (in lower case). Those who win are banned from future Knighthood competitions.

The is the annual competition of the club with rules which are different from the normal variant of the game.

The competition used to start on 1 August but now starts on the third Wednesday of the month and is open to all members of the club, except the knights.

The game is played "roving jack" style in that the jack
Jacks
Jacks is a playground game for children....

 is placed on a penny
Penny
A penny is a coin or a type of currency used in several English-speaking countries. It is often the smallest denomination within a currency system.-Etymology:...

 anywhere on the green. Each player takes it in turns to bowl his two bowls at the jack. Each bowl when it comes to rest is measured and the distance from the jack is recorded before the bowl is removed. If a bowl moves the jack, the jack is placed back on the penny before it is measured. If the penny it partially covered by the bowl it is a toucher, if totally covered it is a lodger. After all the players have bowled the player with the closest bowl is awarded one point. If he also has the second nearest he scores two. The jack is then reset at a different position and the game continues until somebody has scored seven points.

The winner is made a "knight-of-the-green" and can never enter this competition again. It is a rarity for the knight to be declared on the first day and the competition has been known to last ten days.

Past knights

Amongst the winners of the competition were the former Burnley
Burnley F.C.
Burnley Football Club are a professional English Football League club based in Burnley, Lancashire. Nicknamed the Clarets, due to the dominant colour of their home shirts, they were founder members of the Football League in 1888...

 and Southampton
Southampton F.C.
Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...

 footballer Tom Nicol
Tom Nicol
Thomas H. "Tom" Nicol was a Scottish footballer who played for Burnley first as a centre forward and then as a full back in the 1890s, before later becoming a bowls champion in Southampton.-Burnley:...

, who won the 133rd championship in 1907.
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