Giggs Hill Green is a triangular park in Thames Ditton bordered on one side by the Portsmouth Road which has, since 1833, contained as a major part of it, the village's cricket green.
Previously part of the waste (unproductive land) with a high subsoil of clay, gravel and flint belonging to the manor of Kingston, the 8 acres (32,000 m2) of Giggs Hill Green were purchased in 1901 for £250 (equivalent to £28,875in 2021) by Esher and Dittons Urban District Council.
The mystery of Giggs Hill Green is that there is no hill. The Green has had several different spellings over the centuries. In the 15th and 16th centuries, it was known as 'Le Gighill', 'Gyghyll', the 'lane called Gyghill' and 'Giggehill'. In Middle English, 'gigge' means a whirling thing, so perhaps a maypole was implied.
Horace Walpole, resident in Twickenham, wrote of the dangers of the Portsmouth Road in 1784:
But here is a worse calamity; one is never safe by day or night: Mrs Walsingham, who has bought your brother's late house at Ditton, was robbed a few days ago in the high road, within a mile of home, at seven in the evening.
[1] By 'Mrs Walsingham', Walpole was referring to the mother of Hon. Charlotte Boyle Walsingham who constructed her mansion farmhouse, Boyle Farm, which has been turned into The Home of Compassion at the far end of the village centre by the Thames.
Portsmouth Road and the surrounding commons were notoriously dangerous. There was the serious risk of both footpads (i.e. unmounted robbers) and highwaymen. Tom Waters, Jerry Abershawe, Evan Evans, William Hawke and Thomas Banks were all hanged in the 17th/18th centuries for banditry on the Portsmouth Road. [2]
William IV was on the throne when the first recorded cricket match took place on Giggs Hill Green. The year was 1833, and a Ditton side played against the gentleman of Richmond and Brentford. The result was never recorded nor the names of the players who took part, but the beer was only two pence a pint. At this time the club operated from the local inn, 'The Angel', which still overlooks the Green. [2]
The club prospered and by 1877 began to look to travel further afield in search of opponents. A coach and horses was hired to take a team to play Englefield Green with an entertainer on board for the journey. Cash was in short supply, one match was brought to an abrupt end when the ball was hit under the front of a passing steamroller. [2]
Having had his window broken by the ball, the owner of Dorset Lodge, which also overlooks the Green, offered the Club one pound for every ball hit there from that moment on. [2]
Between 1879 and 1920 a number of Surrey and England players learnt their cricket on the Green. A week of matches never failed to attract the attention of the village. Despite the limited changing facilities at 'The Angel', the club prospered, with a team of principally local players. Many of the Surrey County players have held a benefit match on the green against the local side. Two local roads are named after Thames Ditton, Surrey and England cricketers: Maurice Read and Tom Hayward. [2]
The club was one of the few to carry on during the war, helped by the continuity; and was soon going strongly again in 1946. In more recent times, with the generous help of the Milk Marketing Board a new pavilion was built in 1977, rebuilt in 2004 and the club has gone from strength to strength. [2]
On its cricket green four teams play every Saturday in the Surrey County Leagues and two on Sunday. A cricket week is still held every year and for the last two years the Club has toured the West Country.[ citation needed ]
On Sunday mornings the Colts from 9 to 16 years of age play matches against neighbouring clubs.
Esher is a town in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole.
Elmbridge is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. Its principal towns and villages are Esher, Cobham, Walton-on-Thames, Weybridge and Molesey. It directly borders the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and the London Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. Some areas of the borough form a continuation of the Greater London Built-up Area, formerly falling into the Metropolitan Police District.
Long Ditton is a residential suburb in the Borough of Elmbridge, Surrey, England on the boundary with the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, London. In medieval times it was a village, occupying a narrow strip of land. Neighbouring settlements include Hinchley Wood, Thames Ditton and Surbiton.
Thames Ditton is a suburban village on the River Thames, in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Apart from a large inhabited island in the river, it lies on the southern bank, centred 12.2 miles (19.6 km) southwest of Charing Cross in central London. Thames Ditton is just outside Greater London but within the Greater London Urban Area as defined by the Office for National Statistics. Its clustered village centre and shopping area on a winding High Street is surrounded by housing, schools and sports areas. Its riverside faces the Thames Path and Hampton Court Palace Gardens and golf course in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its most commercial area is spread throughout its conservation area and contains restaurants, cafés, shops and businesses.
Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, 2nd Duke of Lennox, 2nd Duke of Aubigny, of Goodwood House near Chichester in Sussex, was a British nobleman and politician. He was the son of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, 1st Duke of Lennox, the youngest of the seven illegitimate sons of King Charles II. He was the most important of the early patrons of the game of cricket and did much to help its evolution from village cricket to first-class cricket.
John Maurice Read was an English professional cricketer. Harry Altham wrote of him in A History of Cricket, "Maurice Read had been recognised as a dashing player up to Test match form, to say nothing of being a wonderful fielder in the country." A hard-hitting and, according to Lord Hawke, "magnificent batsman who never had pretensions to be even a moderate change bowler", Read did little bowling except in 1883, when he claimed 27 first-class wickets including his career best of 6–41 against Kent.
Broadhalfpenny Down is a historic cricket ground in Hambledon, Hampshire. It is known as the "Cradle of Cricket" because it was the home venue in the 18th century of the Hambledon Club, but cricket predated the club and ground by at least two centuries. The club is in the parish of Hambledon close to the neighbouring parish of Clanfield. The club took the name of the neighbouring rural village of Hambledon, about 2.7 miles away by road.
Claygate is an affluent suburban village in Surrey, England, 14 miles southwest of central London. It is the only civil parish in the borough of Elmbridge. Surrounded by green belt, it lies inside the Greater London Built-up Area.
Molesey is a district of two twin towns, East Molesey and West Molesey, in the Borough of Elmbridge, Surrey, England, and is situated on the south bank of the River Thames.
Old Deer Park is an area of open space within Richmond, owned by the Crown Estate, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. It covers 147 hectares of which 90.4 hectares are leased as sports grounds for sports, particularly rugby and golf. Despite the name, there are now no deer in the park.
The Thames Ditton Lawn Tennis Club is a lawn tennis club in Thames Ditton, Surrey, England.
Charlotte FitzGerald-de Ros, 20th Baroness de Ros of Helmsley, also known as Lady Henry FitzGerald, was born Charlotte Boyle-Walsingham in Castlemartyr, County Cork, Ireland or in London, where she died.
Lord Henry FitzGerald PC (Ire) was the fourth son of the 1st Duke of Leinster and the Duchess of Leinster. A younger brother was the revolutionary Lord Edward FitzGerald.
Three river islands (aits) form a linear group, close to the junction of the two main old streets of Thames Ditton village, in the River Thames in a corner of modern Surrey, on the Kingston reach above Teddington Lock. Thames Ditton Island, the dominant ait, is 350 yards (320 m) long and has 48 houses with gardens ; Boyle Farm Island has one house; Swan Island, between the two, is the smallest.
The A307 road runs 13.2 miles (21.2 km) through SW London and NW Surrey. It is primary at the north-east end; the remainder is non-primary, generally superseded in the mid-twentieth century in two stages by newer alignments of the Portsmouth Road, the Kingston bypass and Esher bypass of the A3, which runs along a slightly oblique axis.
Mitcham Cricket Green is a cricket ground in Mitcham, south London. It is the home of Mitcham Cricket Club and is reportedly the oldest cricket ground still in use, having been used for cricket since 1685.
The Rythe is a river or stream in north Surrey, England which is generally open and which is a natural woodland feature for approximately half of its course before being variously culverted and a suburban garden feature, passing between Thames Ditton and Long Ditton, then discharging into the Thames. Its longest branch is the Arbrook which drains Arbrook Common, a woodland of the mainly wooded Esher Commons.
Ham and Petersham Cricket Club was established in 1815. In 2015 the cricket club celebrated its bicentenary.
George White Ayres was an English cricketer who played between 1892 and 1899 as a right-handed batsman for Surrey and then briefly Essex. Born in Giggs Hill, Thames Ditton in Surrey, he was picked for Surrey's Second XI in 1889 before graduating to the first team by 1890, taking his first-class cap on 2 June 1892 against Somerset. He made twenty-five appearances for Surrey, scoring 407 runs at 12.71 though never once passed fifty. He moved to Essex for the 1899 season and made 12 appearances for them scoring 262 runs at 16.43 including his career best knock of 83. He retired from playing that year and became an umpire for Oxford University matches, standing in eighteen games. He died at Riverside Park, Felpham in Sussex.
Twickenham Cricket Club is an historic amateur cricket club in Twickenham in the United Kingdom. It is considered one of the oldest cricket clubs and sports clubs in world, dating back to 1833.
Coordinates: 51°23′10″N0°19′59″W / 51.386°N 0.333°W
| Towns, villages and neighbourhoods |
|  | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notable parks | ||||||||||||||||||
| Places of worship | ||||||||||||||||||
| Education | ||||||||||||||||||
| Transport |
| |||||||||||||||||
| Buildings and structures |
| |||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||
Places listed are articles notable as settlements, arranged by post town The M25 motorway follows approximately a boundary and is included for its regional importance. | ||||||||||||||||||