In 1924 a recently qualified young man with a Cricket Blue from University was employed as Land Agent to the Milton’s Estate on Exmoor.
Roy Nesfield was a cricket fanatic who had played three times for Worcestershire and although playing for The Somerset Stragglers and Somerset 2nd X1 he wanted to raise his own Cricket Team in Bridgetown. Not an easy task as he had to find a fairly level field which is not easy on Exmoor and find players drawn from mostly rural farming folk who had probably never watched a cricket match let alone played.
After a frantic search up and down the Exe valley on the Milton’s estate he settled on the present site just South of Bridgetown with the river Exe flowing around half the ground and a sharp slope rising towards the hill behind. He rented the ground from the Estate and had to build a footbridge to get to the ground from the main road. Also build a pavilion which was a very basic affair with the roof thatched with ferns collected from the moor. Only the square was cut and the rest of the field was kept shortish with cattle and sheep grazing. Since those far off days the pavilion although not substantially changed has had a small kitchen area added, the roof professionally thatched and of course some running fresh water for drinking, otherwise if you want a shower there is the river Exe. The character remains unchanged with a few photos, the awards and the swallows nesting in the thatch. These days the whole field is mown and the ground beautifully maintained by Douglas Sherring and Kenny Cross. Roy Nesfield built a house in the village in sight of the ground in the shape of three cricket stumps which is appropriately named “Wickets”
Without doubt it is one of the most picturesque grounds not only in England but worldwide and has featured in several books which show pictures of cricket grounds throughout the Commonwealth. It has won two national most beautiful ground competitions “Wisden” 2002 and “The Daily Telegraph” 2008.
Apart from its beauty it has several anomalies! With an often fast flowing river running around half its border a good hit often lands in the water and the game stops whilst players either wait on the bridge with a long pole with a net on the end to catch the ball or if it is hit further downstream “its boots off” and into the river to catch it before it heads for Dulverton. Many balls have been lost over the years. On the other side of the ground the slope rises sharply so the ball has to be hit uphill where fielding and catching can be very tricky given the slope. Sometimes the canny fielder can judge that the ball will not reach the fence but will run back down the hill! In early days a six was only awarded if you cleared the river, the hedges and fences and the pavilion.
The early players were all from the village with local names such as Stephens, Phillips, Gunter, Wyatt, Farmer, Blackmore and Rich to name a few. Bridgetown had a Shop, Post Office, Pub, Garage, Blacksmith and Mill thus, was self contained and there were plenty of young men to learn to play cricket. Sadly only the Pub remains so only one or two players actually live in the village although most have connections. In nearly 100 years there have been few Presidents and only two Chairman. William Ladds is currently Chairman having succeeded Roy Nesfield in 1987. Both his father and mother were past President’s and after the death of his mother Percy Gunter took over, followed by Bernard Halse and presently John Reed who was a fine cricketer and main sponsor of the Club. It is basically a family club and our Secretary and Groundsman Doug Sherring who was brought up in the village keeps the club going through thick and thin. He is assisted by Kenny Cross and his wife Jacky who is the Treasurer, Scorer and a lot else besides who also live in the village. Jacky is from the Matravers family who have provided many cricketers for Bridgetown over the years and her Cousin Paul is currently the Club Captain.
In the early years Roy Nesfield had to teach most of the players the actual game and whites and kit were in short supply. There are many amusing stories from those days. Roy was batting with George Blackmore and called him for a run and George replied “Where do I run to Sir”! As the ground was not cut except for the square it encouraged big hitting in the air and one prolific hitter was Arthur Farmer who often cleared the river, trees, the road with the ball ending up in the Partridge’s Farm field.
Cricket was not played during the war as most of the team were called up. American’s were stationed locally and wanted to covert the ground into a baseball ground by digging into the hill to form a bowl. Mercifully this did not happen.
After the war, cricket at Bridgetown resumed on a friendly basis against other village sides and the odd touring side. Cricket was always fun but competitive and apart from a fine game, the teas with Scones with Jam and Clotted Cream, Sandwiches and delicious homemade cakes were always much admired and Bridgetown Cricket teas to this day are legend. Afterwards a pint in The Rock now Badger’s Holt rounded off an idyllic day.
William Ladds remembers starting to play in the early fifties and was honoured to be given the odd game during the school holidays. The ground was not cut so it was difficult for a school boy taught to keep the ball on the ground to score runs. Opening up with Arthur Farmer one Bank Holiday Arthur completed his hundred before he was out for 7! Fielding was often tricky as if the cows had been in, rather than pick up the cowpats a bit of grass was just spread over them. Not so good for whites. One particular incident was when Wilf Peat refused to walk after being given out and lay down on the wicket. It took Roy Nesfield some time to persuade him to leave the pitch. He afterwards became our umpire and was very frustrating if you were a bowler as he removed his hearing aid so couldn’t hear a nick! The highlight of the season in those days was the match against The Somerset Stragglers at the County Ground in Taunton. The team used the County Pavilion and played on the square which was amazing. Travel was by a Greenslades bus and the return journey included a stop for Fish and Chips and numerous pubs on the way back to The Rock. William Ladds recalls as a naive 16 year old being badly led astray by Bill Stephens and was unable to walk up Exton Hill to home and had to summon his somewhat grumpy father!
Cricket continued with friendly games during the fifties, sixties and seventies with many fine players emerging such as Bernard Halse, Percy Gunter, Doug Sherring, John Reed, Keith Colman and Fred Matravers to name a few and more and more touring sides wishing to play at Bridgetown. In 1979 the West Somerset League was formed and Bridgetown performed well eventually winning League 2 and after a few hiccups maintaining a regular slot in Division 1. The highlight was winning the league in 2014 by the tightest of margins with a brilliant team effort. Since then we have retained a middle order position in Division 1 but in 2021 were runners up by only 4 points. Friendly fixtures continue both on Sundays and midweek to welcome mostly touring sides. The current crop of players maintain the high standards of sportsmanship, play competitively but above all enjoy their cricket and there is a good mixture of mature and young players which is a good omen for the future.
Some famous cricketers have played at Bridgetown including Vic Marks Somerset and England and Joel Garner West Indies and Somerset. Joel arrived after a heavy lunch bowled two overs of off breaks and then went sleep under a tree! During our 75th Anniversary Cricket week we entertained a Gloucestershire Side and the Somerset Stragglers as well as Cricket Correspondent’s from Fleet Street. In 2024 we will reach 100 years and a cricket week is planned and we hope to lay on a spectacular event to honour Roy Nesfield and all those who have played and given so much of their time to keeping the club going.
The club is self funding and we are most grateful to the generosity of our President, our Vice Presidents and other sponsors who support us in addition to the player’s fees and income from visiting touring sides. We are also most grateful to Exmoor National Park who gave us a grant towards the re-thatch of the Pavilion. Only the war, heavy rain, hail and even snow plus the odd Red Deer fleeing the Stag Hounds has halted play so we hope that cricket at Bridgetown will continue for another 100 years. There is no better place to spend a lazy summer’s afternoon than at Bridgetown watching or playing cricket and watching the Buzzards lazily floating in the sky in search of prey, the Swallows nesting in the pavilion roof and the trout rising in the early evening. Thoughts too of a cream tea and a pint of ale!
William Ladds
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