The earliest history of cricket in the Beddington parish

Cricket has been played in the Beddington Parish since 1835 at Beddington Corner and secondly by Waddon and Beddington where Tradesmen’s games were played against Croydon in a field behind the Hare and Hounds Inn at Waddon as early as 1850. Through our research at Croydon Archives we now understand that these two clubs united in 1863 to form the Beddington United C.C. at Beddington Corner. In September 1862 Waddon and Beddington played a wind-up match against Croydon at the Hare and Hounds. By 1863 Nathaniel Bridges, Lord of the Manor of Wallington had purchased the recreation ground at Beddington Corner in the Carew Land sales.

The Beddington Corner Cricket Club had been asked by Nathaniel Bridges to pay £105 per annum for the use of the ground, this resulted in the unification of the Beddington clubs and by the start of the 1863 season the Beddington Corner Club had changed their name to Beddington United, a trend set by many other clubs during this period in order to share the cost of maintenance and ground rent. Local journalists at this time referred to the Beddington United side as the Beddington Cricket Club, and at other times as Beddington Corner, Beddington Lane and Beddington & Waddon, but all played on the only recreation ground in the Parish of Beddington. It was during the period from 1850 to 1859, that the West Kent and Cambridge cricketer Herbert Jenner lived at the 'Limes' Culvers Avenue and played cricket with his son for Carshalton Cricket Club.

The Beddington Parish recreation ground was part of a 100-acre field of Mitcham Common land given to the Carews by the Justices of Henry VIII in a land swap of 1538. By 1819 nine acres of this field had been enclosed under a parliament authority agreement for the long-term use as a cricket ground. This land originally part of Mitcham Common had been in dispute for 300 years and had caused long term friction between the neighbouring parishes, not resolved until 1882 in a court case at the Croydon Assizes. In 1869 due to parish boundary changes the recreation ground had become part of the Wallington Parish when Nathaniel Bridges built Holy Trinity Church in Manor Road, Wallington. The Beddington Parish had lost their only recreation ground at Beddington Corner.

In 1868 the railway had reached Hackbridge and in 1870 the astute Rev Alexander H Bridges who would have been aware of the situation regarding the recreation ground at Beddington Corner purchased the rest of Beddington Park from land speculator Atkins Borsley in order to preserve the park for future generations to enjoy. Restoration work on St Mary's Church being his number one priority, had been completed by July 1869. Work on the recreation ground, purchased in 1863 and the draining of the northern fields began in Beddington Park by altering the course of the Wandle River from east to west and culverting the many streams to a central lake in the park. A new carriage way was laid by James Southerton (The Man of Three Counties) across the river at the Terracotta Bridge, (constructed by Rev AHB, his initials etched into the central arch), to the new recreation ground in the northern fields. The first game was played on Canon Bridges’ private ground in June 1873, the thatched pavilions not yet constructed.

The Beddington Cricket Ground consisted of two grounds, both laid out by Southerton: one for the private use of Canon Bridges and the second for the use of the village teams. This situation lasted until 1879 when the private ground became The Beddington Archery and Tennis Club and all cricket was transferred to the Beddington Village Ground with the lesser Thatched Pavilion not having the luxury of running water and toilets provided at Canon Bridges’ private ground. The Canon, unlike Nathaniel Bridges of Wallington, allowed the village teams to play on this ground free of charge, his gardeners maintaining the grounds and pavilions until his death in 1890. Thomas Bentham who wrote the History of Beddington in 1923, fifty years after the start of cricket at Beddington Park recalls Mr John Henry Bridges the only son of Canon Bridges, a Winchester and Oxford man like his father was a cricketer of considerable ability and reputation and got together such clubs as Izingari, Old Wykehamists, Uppington Rovers, Orleans Club, and Old Harrovians. It was on this ground that the famous cricketer Mr Robert Henderson, who played for Surrey, received his education in cricket (Sutton Archives). The Henderson family arrived at Beddington in 1876 and lived in the Carew Cottages, Beddington Park, and Thomas Henderson the father was employed as a mechanical engineer for the Lambeth Female Orphanage at Carew Manor. The Henderson's played at Hackbridge House CC until 1880 when they joined the Beddington CC.