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Review
‘Chris Arnot’s heady romantic hymn to a variety of once famous fields is a coffee-table classic for and of posterity. Everyone will mourn for a personal vanished favourite.’ – Frank Keating Sports Books of the Year (The Guardian )
‘Delightful new book’ - Brian Viner (Independent )
'A wonderfully observed volume, thick in crucial memories, whether through sharp anecdotes or poignant photographs’ (Daily Telegraph )
'A handsome new volume...there are many lovely old photogrtaphs and some marvellous stories, beautifully told.' - Richard Williams (The Guardian )
‘Superb book…from the vast collection of images in the book you get a real sense of how cricket in Britain used to be’ (Good Book Guide )
‘For any cricket lover who cares about the game’s history this is to treasure. Britain’s Lost Cricket Grounds is a coffee-table book too luxurious to be read merely while drinking coffee. It is to be consumed, devoured and savoured’ (The Cricketer )
‘Packed full of stunning photographs…this is a lovely, poignant book that will charm any reader with a historical bent’ (All Out Cricket )
'A beautifully written volume that is rich in history and anecdote...some magnificent photos will invoke poignant memories' (Thesportsbookshelf.com )
‘It should stir cricket lovers everywhere to do whatever they can to protect and preserve the grounds that are left’ (This England magazine )
‘Delightful new book’ - Brian Viner (Independent )
'A wonderfully observed volume, thick in crucial memories, whether through sharp anecdotes or poignant photographs’ (Daily Telegraph )
'A handsome new volume...there are many lovely old photogrtaphs and some marvellous stories, beautifully told.' - Richard Williams (The Guardian )
‘Superb book…from the vast collection of images in the book you get a real sense of how cricket in Britain used to be’ (Good Book Guide )
‘For any cricket lover who cares about the game’s history this is to treasure. Britain’s Lost Cricket Grounds is a coffee-table book too luxurious to be read merely while drinking coffee. It is to be consumed, devoured and savoured’ (The Cricketer )
‘Packed full of stunning photographs…this is a lovely, poignant book that will charm any reader with a historical bent’ (All Out Cricket )
'A beautifully written volume that is rich in history and anecdote...some magnificent photos will invoke poignant memories' (Thesportsbookshelf.com )
‘It should stir cricket lovers everywhere to do whatever they can to protect and preserve the grounds that are left’ (This England magazine )
Product Description
From county grounds where Denis Compton hit a century to the smallest village field Britain’s Lost Cricket Grounds movingly shows how picturesque greenery gave way to shopping malls and housing estates. The cricket ground is as much a part of the British landscape as the parish church. Hastings used to have a historic ground in the middle of the town surrounded by elegant houses – but then recently it disappeared under a shopping precinct with a branch of River Island where the wicket used to be. Yorkshire used to play at Sheffield’s Bramall Lane – until the football club built grandstands over it. Like so many companies with works grounds, Guinness have closed their cricket ground at Park Royal and sold it for an industrial estate. Now, in a further addition to Aurum’s successful ‘Lost’ series, following Britain’s Lost Cities and Lost Victorian Britain, Guardian journalist Chris Arnot tours the country in search of our most lamented lost cricket grounds, hearing reminiscences from former players and spectators, and finding what, if anything, is left nowadays, apart from the poignant photographs of their picturesque heyday that make this a nostalgic and rueful trip back in time.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Chris Arnot has made a major contribution to cricket's never ending tide of literature. His beautifully presented coffee table type book is full of memories of forty lost cricket grounds, from all levels of the game from county to club cricket.
Having seen cricket on eight of these grounds means that it has a particular relevance for me, but I am sure most cricket lovers will appreciate the memories of long ago, of both people and places, coupled with some stunning photographs.
The sadness of the loss of Hastings as a county venue is rightly given pride of place, but as a Yorkshireman the stories of Bramall Lane, Sheffield, The Circle at Hull and Fartown at Huddersfield are most interesting. All forty grounds have their own unique stories from Dover in the south to Edinburgh in the north.
A book to enjoy and cherish.
Having seen cricket on eight of these grounds means that it has a particular relevance for me, but I am sure most cricket lovers will appreciate the memories of long ago, of both people and places, coupled with some stunning photographs.
The sadness of the loss of Hastings as a county venue is rightly given pride of place, but as a Yorkshireman the stories of Bramall Lane, Sheffield, The Circle at Hull and Fartown at Huddersfield are most interesting. All forty grounds have their own unique stories from Dover in the south to Edinburgh in the north.
A book to enjoy and cherish.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Chris Arnot has really excelled himself with this super account of cricket grounds, which as the title states will never see another ball bowled (although thankfully there are one or two amongst the 40 where that may not necessarily be the case). The book has been meticulously researched, is eruditely written and is packed with lots of fascinating photos. It is easy to read, with pertinent but not intrusive comments by the author. My only quibble is that some of the entries are too short. Thoroughly recommended.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
There's something melancholic about the site of old cricket grounds. Even now I find it hard to pass one and not feel the need to avert my eyes, especially when that ground holds personal memories. About ten miles from our house is one where I played my first good all-round match in Scotland. Three years later it had gone, the club folded. The field still lies undeveloped, yet the grass is knee high and any evidence of its past is long gone. Similar tales can be told of several grounds near where I grew up in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, some now the sites of retail parks or housing developments.
Chris Arnot's new book on first-class and club grounds that are no more is a joy from start to finish, yet one that, for a cricket fan, leaves you increasingly wistful as you work through it. Packed with photographs that transport you back to times when most communities had a sports ground and cricket was deemed a social necessity, one wonders if progress is all it is made out to be. The beautiful ground at Hastings, now an anodyne shopping centre, the lovely one at Southampton that disappeared as the Rose Bowl took shape and many others that used to be on the first-class circuit. The old Bass ground at Burton is there, but so is a truly picturesque one at Edale in the Peak District. There are many others that you may recognise and remember, like the old John Player ground at Nottingham, together with those at Beeston, Castleton and Newstead. The section on the latter contained the books only error, with the picture on page 96 most definitely not from the 1950s - the hairstyles suggest the 1970s to me. The section on Sheffield is especially sad. It was anything but scenic, but steeped in history.
One of the strengths of the book is that the author has provided a wide selection of grounds from all corners of the country, many of them playing host to some of the greatest performances in the history of the game. Some were home to clubs that thrived and won leagues and cups with regularity, yet times changed, as did landowners, and there were other uses for that land, other development opportunities and plenty of short-sighted individuals.
Chris Arnot has produced some lovely text alongside the photographs, Informative and witty, he shows himself an excellent writer (as befits someone who has written on a range of subjects for the major broadsheets) and for me this book is an absolute gem, one I shall re-read many times in the future.
I would recommend this book whole-heartedly and will defy anyone to get to the last page without feeling the slightest bit wistful for days gone by. The publishers are to be congratulated for producing a book of genuine beauty and the author for his considerable and thought-provoking research.
Chris Arnot's new book on first-class and club grounds that are no more is a joy from start to finish, yet one that, for a cricket fan, leaves you increasingly wistful as you work through it. Packed with photographs that transport you back to times when most communities had a sports ground and cricket was deemed a social necessity, one wonders if progress is all it is made out to be. The beautiful ground at Hastings, now an anodyne shopping centre, the lovely one at Southampton that disappeared as the Rose Bowl took shape and many others that used to be on the first-class circuit. The old Bass ground at Burton is there, but so is a truly picturesque one at Edale in the Peak District. There are many others that you may recognise and remember, like the old John Player ground at Nottingham, together with those at Beeston, Castleton and Newstead. The section on the latter contained the books only error, with the picture on page 96 most definitely not from the 1950s - the hairstyles suggest the 1970s to me. The section on Sheffield is especially sad. It was anything but scenic, but steeped in history.
One of the strengths of the book is that the author has provided a wide selection of grounds from all corners of the country, many of them playing host to some of the greatest performances in the history of the game. Some were home to clubs that thrived and won leagues and cups with regularity, yet times changed, as did landowners, and there were other uses for that land, other development opportunities and plenty of short-sighted individuals.
Chris Arnot has produced some lovely text alongside the photographs, Informative and witty, he shows himself an excellent writer (as befits someone who has written on a range of subjects for the major broadsheets) and for me this book is an absolute gem, one I shall re-read many times in the future.
I would recommend this book whole-heartedly and will defy anyone to get to the last page without feeling the slightest bit wistful for days gone by. The publishers are to be congratulated for producing a book of genuine beauty and the author for his considerable and thought-provoking research.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Brought as gift..
I brought this book as a present for my cricket loving husband - he has not put it down since. He loves reading about the grounds of the years past & all the history that they... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Waggers
A lovely book
I bought this book for my Dad - it's right up his street. It's about cricket, it's about a lost world, and it's well written. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Stephen Hudson
Lost but not forgotten
Fine & exotic choice of photographs selected to record an essential aspect of cricket history: an excellent contribution to cricket literature although one or two mistakes in text... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Strike 69
Lost Grounds
I first became aware of this book when Chris Arnott asked me to contribute to the chapter on Rodney Parade, Newport. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Phillip Stallard
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