Holt Pound
| Holt Pound | |
| Hampshire | |
|---|---|
 Oast House off Fullers Road, Holt Pound | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU815435 |
| Location: | 51°11’8"N, -0°50’4"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Farnham |
| Postcode: | GU10 |
| Dialling code: | 01420 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | East Hampshire |
Holt Pound is a hamlet in Hampshire, leaning against the border of Surrey (marked by a farm track just past the north-east edge of the hamlet). Holt Pound is also at the edge of the Alice Holt Forest, whose bounds clasp the hamlet to north-west and south-east.
This hamlet sits on the A325 road coming out of Farnham and heading to Bordon to the south. Immediately up the road, in Surrey, are Wrecclesham and Rowledge. Ecclesiastically, Holt Pound is assigned to the Parish of Rowledge in the Diocese of Guildford.
The village is between the Alice Holt Forest and fields known jointly as Old Kiln Farm and the Holt Pound Enclosure. It has a large 20th-century pub-restaurant and a recreation ground. Just south-west of Holt Pound is 'Birdworld', a popular attraction.
Cricket ground
The origin of Holt Pound is unknown but it was certainly established before 1784 when it was used for a cricket match between Farnham and an Odiham & Alton side.
The Holt Pound ground was known locally as "the Oval". Many important Surrey games of the period were contested at Holt Pound including, in 1808, when Surrey beat All-England by 66 runs.
After Farnham left the ground, to take up residence at a pitch created near the moat of Farnham Castle, thanks to a past Bishop of Winchester, who wished to tidy up part of the Farnham Park, the ground was made available to other clubs and the local population to play cricket.
An anonymous writer in 1862 wrote that the residents of Wrecclesham would play there every Sunday.[1]
There is a record of Rowledge Cricket Club playing there that appears in 1886 with a match recorded against Tilford. Until 1914 the club played its home matches at the Holt Pound ground.[2] The local Wrecclesham village teams also went on to play all of their home fixtures on the ground, from their inception in 1901 until 1922.
When the cricket teams returned to play after the First World War, the ground was in a terrible state. According to one player at the time 'Ponies were allowed to graze there, we often had to take a shovel to the pitch before we could start a match'.[1] Unsurprisingly, Wrecclesham left a couple of years later, when a pitch became available within the grounds of Runwick House.
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Holt Pound) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Pinn, Stephen Cricket in Wrecclesham: A Brief History pp.6-11
- ↑ History of Rowledge Cricket Club
- Maun, Ian (2009). From Commons to Lord's, Volume One: 1700 to 1750. Roger Heavens. ISBN 978 1 900592 52 9.