Category: Club Histories

Founded in 1860, Ilminster Cricket Club has been a central part of the local community for over 150 years.With recent refurbishments to our beloved bar area (aptly nicknamed ‘the shed’) and recently renamed the Tony Rice Bar after one of the clubs longest and most devoted servants- Tony Rice- the club is continually looking towards the future.

Taunton School was founded in 1847 as Independent College, a boys-only school for dissenters – those who were not members of the Church of England. In the 1870s, the school’s governors purchased a site at the northern end of Taunton, on Staplegrove Road.

Clevedon Cricket Club was established in 1874 and is one of the leading clubs around the Bristol and Somerset area. The club is located at the top of one of the 7 hills in Clevedon and delivers beautiful picturesque views of the Mendips and Bristol Channel from its ground at Dial Hill.

The Club was founded on 4^th October, 1929 at The Old School Room, East Horrington, Near Wells, Somerset.  Situated on the edge of the Mendip Hills, Horrington is one of the smallest village clubs in Somerset.  The Club first played in the 1930 season before being disbanded in 1950.

Bridgwater Cricket Club was formed in 1839 by a group of local worthies who wanted to partake in this Gentlemanly pastime.

Founded in 1920, Wemdon Cricket Club is based at The Green, in the heart of Wembdon village, 1 mile west of Bridgwater. The club boasts 5 Saturday XI’s, a Sunday XI, Ladies cricket section and a thriving junior section. There is a pathway in place for all ages through to Under 19’s and in to adult cricket.

There are no accurate records as to the actual date St Andrews Cricket Club was formed, other than it was in the mid 1930s. In 1962, when I started playing, there  were players who had played “pre war”.

Agricultural Showgrounds is the home venue of Frome Cricket Club who play in the Somerset Division of the West of England Premier League. The first recorded match on the ground was in 1882, when Frome played United Eleven

In 1859, a small group of members from the Bath YMCA decided that they wished to play the relatively new sport of cricket more seriously, and formed a new club, the Bath Association Cricket Club, playing for the next few years on top of Claverton Down, on the southern outskirts of the city

Cricket was relatively slow to come to Somerset, but by the early 19th century it was being played in a haphazard fashion, mainly on gentlemen’s country-house grounds. (See also the history of Watts House). Founded in 1825 Lansdown Cricket Club is one of the oldest in England.

Weston-super-Mare Cricket Club is an amateur cricket club based in Weston-super-Mare. Since the club’s formation in 1845, they have nurtured a number of players who have gone on to play for Somerset County Cricket Club and a select few who have gone on to play for the England Cricket Team.

Beckington is amongst the oldest surviving cricket clubs in the county with records dating back as far as 1884, and held in the possession of the club is an actual scorebook from that year.

Watts House (Cedar Falls near Bishops Lydeard) features greatly in the history of cricket with the County of Somerset and staged much ‘country house’ cricket rather than club or ‘Gents Players matches. There was never this distinction in country house matches (see Barry Phillips’s book on HT Stanley & Quantock lodge cricket). 

Records show a cricket match played at Knowle between “12 of Knowle against 12 of Norton “in 1859. According to Arthur Waugh’s book – One Mans Road – “in 1878 some sportsmen conceived the idea of a Cricket Club in a field across the meadow on the skirts of Withies Lane”.

Hampset was founded by two old boys of City of Bath Boys’ School – Brian Martin, who supported HAMPshire, and Ken Saunders, who was supported SomerSET. Their aim was to provide club cricket at an affordable price for school leavers wanting to continue playing. The first match was on 27 July 1940 against Odd Down at Odd Down Playing Fields. 

Somerset Stragglers Cricket Club are a long established Nomadic cricket club playing on perfect Somerset & Devon pitches. This year (2022) will see us playing 15 midweek friendly fixtures, including a short tour to North Devon/Cornwall!

An audio version of the article can be listened to below.

Western Storm were formed in 2016 to compete in the new Women’s Cricket Super League, representing the South West.

In their inaugural season, they came second in the group stage, meaning they progressed to the semi-final, which they won against Loughborough Lightning. They play their home matches at the County Ground, Taunton, the County Ground, Bristol and Sophia Gardens.