The Cricket Pavilion

We have looked at the cricket pavilion in Market Lavington before. We’ll take another look, with extra information today.

This was the photo we used before.

Market Lavington Cricket Pavilion along The Spring - 1912

It is hard to read on this copy, but the caption says ‘The Cricket Pavilion East Lavington’ so even into the 20th century the former name for our village was in use.

This photo dates from 1912.It probably comes as no surprise that the cricket ground, and the pavilion, were a part of the Manor Estate. When the Pleydell Bouverie family departed, the Manor House was bought by the Awdry family and they created the cricket ground and associated pavilion.

Cricket in progress 100 years ago with the pavilion in the background

Here we see the pavilion from across the ground with a match in progress. The photographer must have been standing somewhere near where the main building of Lavington School now stands when he took this timeless looking English scene.

The batsman and others from this photo at Market Lavington Museum

There we see batsman, wicket keeper up to the stumps, a slip fieldsman and an umpire. The chap at square leg appears to be facing the wrong way.  Perhaps he is fascinated by the thatched stacks in the next field.

Lavington School – the secondary school serving the local community –  opened in 1961, so the cricket field must have gone out of use before then. For many years the old pavilion was the school caretaker’s house.

The Pavilion in 1961

This was the pavilion in 1961 in a view along The Spring. There still looks to be a builder’s shed at the entrance to the school.

Now, the pavilion is gone, replaced by Pavilion Gardens, a pleasing small housing development.

Tags: cricket, Market Lavington, Museum, school