 The Mount, a house standing in the corner of the present day field | |||
| Ground information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Ospringe, Faversham, Kent | ||
| Coordinates | 51°18′40″N0°52′44″E / 51.311°N 0.879°E | ||
| Team information | |||
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| As of 9 December 2017 Source: CricketArchive | |||
Mount Field was a cricket ground located at Ospringe on the south-western edge of Faversham in the English county of Kent. It was associated with The Mount, a large house built west of the ground, and was used for one first-class cricket match in 1876.
The ground was used to host one first-class match in 1876. Kent County Cricket Club lost to Hampshire County Cricket Club by an innings and six runs in August in a fixture which immediately followed the club's Canterbury Cricket Week festival. [1] It was used by Faversham Cricket Club in the 19th century, [2] [3] [4] but only one other scorecard of a match is known to exist, an 1864 fixture between the Gentlemen of Kent and the Gentlemen of Sussex, [5] and was the home ground used by the cricket team from the local gunpowder works in the 1920s. [6]
The ground was located between the main A2 London Road and the main London, Chatham and Dover railway line just to the east of Ospringe and 0.5 miles (0.80 km) west of Faversham railway station. [7] [8] Most of the ground is now built over, with a residential road called Mount Field occupying the area of the ground. A small strip of the ground remains as part of the 3.2 hectares (7.9 acres) King George V playing field. [9] [10]
The Mount is a large 18th-century house which is situated in the south-western corner of the remaining playing field at the eastern edge of Ospringe. [11] It was described as one of "a number of elegant seats" along the road east of Ospringe in 1837, at which point it was occupied by Lieutenant-general Gerard Gosselin, a Deputy Lieutenant of Kent and a magistrate, and known as Mount Ospringe. [12] [13] Gosselin had joined the Marine Forces in 1780 and transferred to the Army later in his career. He served in the Napoleonic Wars and was appointed Commandant of the Republic of Genoa after he commanded a Brigade during its capture in April 1814. Later in the year he commanded a Brigade at the Capture of Castine in Maine during the War of 1812 and then commanded British forces at Halifax, Nova Scotia. [14] [15] [16]
Gosselin died in 1859 [17] and by 1866 the house was occupied by Percy Beale Neame, [18] a hop farmer who, in 1864, had become a partner in the Faversham brewing business which became known as Shepherd Neame. [2] [19] Neame and his wife Florence, lived at the house until his death at the age of 76 in 1913 and all ten of his children were born there. [3] [20] [21] On his death the estate, including the business, of which he was the sole owner, as well as the house was worth £240,000. [22]
Florence remarried in 1915 [23] and the house, which was empty, was used as a Voluntary Aid Detachment hospital during World War I. [4] [24] [25] After the war it was used as a home for refugee children from Serbia and in 1921 it became a National Children's Home property, closing in the 1930s. [26] The building, which is a Grade II listed building, was later used as an office by the Ministry of National Insurance and by the Kent Agricultural Emergency Committee. [27] It is now divided into residential flats. [11]
Shepherd Neame is an English independent brewery which has been based in the market town of Faversham, Kent, for over 300 years. While 1698 is the brewery's official established date, town records show that commercial brewing has occurred on the site since 1573. Since the brewery's formation in the 16th century, ownership has passed in unbroken succession through five families. The brewery produces a range of cask ales and filtered beers. Production is around 180,000 brewers' barrels a year. It has 303 pubs and hotels in South East England, predominantly in Kent and London. The company exports to 44 countries, including India, Sweden, Italy, Brazil, and Canada.
The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred 42 miles (68 km) from central London. It has an area of 36 square miles (93 km2). The island forms part of the local government district of Swale. Sheppey is derived from Old English Sceapig, meaning "Sheep Island".
Swale is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. The council is based in Sittingbourne, the borough's largest town. The borough also contains the towns of Faversham, Queenborough and Sheerness, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. It includes the Isle of Sheppey and is named after The Swale, the narrow channel which separates Sheppey from the mainland part of the borough. Some southern parts of the borough lie within the Kent Downs, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, 8 miles (13 km) from Sittingbourne, 48 miles (77 km) from London and 10 miles (16 km) from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British trackway which was used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons, and known as Watling Street. The name is of Old English origin, meaning "the metal-worker's village".
Brogdale is a hamlet in Kent, England, immediately south of the M2 motorway, 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Faversham. It is one of several hamlets making up the civil parish of Ospringe and is in the Borough of Swale. Its western half is in the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The St Lawrence Ground is a cricket ground in Canterbury, Kent. It is the home ground of Kent County Cricket Club and since 2013 has been known as The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, due to commercial sponsorship. It is one of the oldest grounds on which first-class cricket is played, having been in use since 1847, and is the venue for Canterbury Cricket Week, the oldest cricket festival in the world. It is one of the two grounds used regularly for first-class cricket that have had a tree, the St Lawrence Lime, within the boundary.
Newnham is a village and civil parish in the Syndale valley in Kent, England, in the administrative borough of Swale near the medieval market town of Faversham.
Ospringe is a village and area of Faversham in the English county of Kent. It is also the name of a civil parish, which since 1935 has not included the village of Ospringe.
Hernhill is a village and civil parish between Faversham and Canterbury in southeast England. The parish includes the hamlets of Crockham, Dargate, The Fostall, Lamberhurst, Oakwell, Staple Street, Thread, Waterham and Wey Street.
Oare is a village and civil parish north of Davington, Faversham in southeast England. It is separated from Faversham by the Oare Creek. To the north of the village are the Oare Marshes, and the Harty Ferry which once linked to Harty on the Isle of Sheppey. Kent Wildlife Trust manages a nature reserve that is an important stopping place for migratory birds.
Davington is a suburb of Faversham in Kent, England.
Painters Forstal is a village in the Swale district of the English county of Kent. It is 2 miles (3.2 km) south-west of the town of Faversham and is part of the civil parish of Ospringe. It lies just south of the M2 motorway, and has developed almost completely since the 1950s.
Hawkhurst Moor is a village green and sports field at Hawkhurst in Kent. It was the centre of the original village and lies to the south of the modern town, with the A229 road running across the area. A cricket ground on the Moor was the venue for two first-class cricket matches in the 1820s.
Norton, Buckland and Stone is a small rural civil parish 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Teynham and 3 miles (4.8 km) west of the centre of Faversham in the borough of Swale, Kent, England. It is bypassed by the M2 to the south and traverses the historic A2, on the route of the Roman road of Watling Street.
Arthur Rex Beale Neame, known as Rex Neame, was an English amateur cricketer who worked in the brewing industry. He played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club between 1956 and 1957 as well as for other teams, including MCC and Free Foresters and was one of the leading schoolboy sportsmen of the mid-1950s.
Lieutenant-colonel Edward Taswell was an English soldier and amateur cricketer who played first-class cricket between 1847 and 1863.
Faversham Guildhall is a municipal building in the Market Place in Faversham, Kent, England. The structure, which was the meeting place of Faversham Borough Council, is a Grade II* listed building.
General Gerard Gosselin was a British Army officer of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. After a short stint in the Marines, he joined the British Army in 1787 in the 34th Regiment of Foot. Having been promoted to lieutenant in 1791 he transferred to the 2nd Regiment of Life Guards in the same year, where he initially served as adjutant. Gosselin was promoted to captain in 1794 and almost immediately purchased his majority as well, transferring to the 130th Regiment of Foot. He travelled with this regiment to Jamaica where they served as garrison troops until returning home in 1796.