Chester Boughton Hall Cricket Club


Chester Boughton Hall Cricket Club is a cricket club that is based in Boughton, Chester, England. The club has four senior XIs playing Saturday sides that compete in the Cheshire County Cricket League of which the 1st XI is in the ECB Premier League.

History

The first game at Boughton Hall was played 20 May 1873.
In the 1870s Boughton Hall was a large private house standing in spacious grounds. The owner of the time, Mr John Thompson, acquired a taste for cricket on his scholastic travels which took him to Rossall School and then Cambridge. Thompson, upon his return, converted part of the Hall's grounds into a cricket field to which he invited friends to play, under his captaincy, as Boughton Hall Cricket Club. Early games were against local teams such as Eaton Park Club, 22nd regiment and Arnold House. Liverpool and Warrington also visited and played host to the ‘Hall but generally came second place to a club which was quickly established as the envy of the area. Even in these early days fixtures were commonplace against the likes of Huyton. Oxton, New Brighton and Birkenhead Park.
In the 1880s the club, now run by a committee and levying subscriptions, went from strength to strength and began to run a second XI. At this time there was a Chester and District League which accommodated teams such as Tattenhall, Bunbury, Chester City, Saltney, Buckley, St Oswald's and Flint. Boughton Hall, however, played teams further afield and in 1887 the inaugural fixture against Neston was played.
Fixtures played in 1900 included: Bootle, Neston, Western, Wrexham, Winnington Park, Warrington, Llandudno, Northern, Knutsford, Birkenhead Park, Eaton Park and Rock Ferry. Fixtures ran from 28 April to 8 September.