The Castle Cary and Ansford Cricket Club was founded in 1837, but then had folded by 1840 when the Hadspen club was started. In 1859 the Castle Cary Cricket Club was formed although its headquarters were at Hadspen until 1870 when it acquired a field at South Cary where a pavilion was built in 1881.
Key Historical Timeline
| Year | Historical Event |
|---|---|
| 1837 | The original Castle Cary and Ansford Cricket Club is founded. |
| 1840 | The initial club folds, and operations briefly shift to the nearby Hadspen club. |
| 1859 | Castle Cary Cricket Club is officially re-formed, initially headquartered at Hadspen. |
| 1870 | The club relocates to its own dedicated field at South Cary. |
| 1881 | The first official cricket pavilion is constructed at the South Cary field. |
| 1900 | The club supplies five players to the Devon & Somerset Wanderers team to represent Great Britain at the Paris Olympic Games, winning the gold medal against France. |
| 1947 | The Jubilee Playing Field is redesigned into the Donald Pither Memorial Field, establishing a shared multi-sport complex for cricket, football, and later rugby. |
| 2012 | The club celebrates its 175th anniversary by hosting a centenary commemoration match against a French President’s XI alongside the London 2012 Olympics. |
Photograph by kind permission of Castle Cary Museum – October 2026
In 1900 the Club supplied five players to the Devon & Somerset Wanderers team, which defeated France and won the first and only Cricket Olympic medal, an event which was celebrated in 2012 in parallel to the London Olympics.
A description of the match and tickets can be found here
The Jubilee Playing Field, established before 1900, was redesigned in 1947 as the Donald Pither Memorial Field with a new pavilion, football and cricket pitches, one grass and two hard tennis courts, bowling green, car park, seats, and flower garden.
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