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175Years of Trent Bridge
william clarke
From there, Clarke signed the best English
cricketers to form his All England XI, which
toured across the country to play matches
against whoever would pay to see them.
For Peter Wynne-Thomas, historian at
Trent Bridge, Clarke was one of the most
colourful characters in the club’s history. “In
the course of his 10 years as head of the All
England Eleven, Clarke had control of nearly
all of the best cricketers of the day,” he said.
“He more or less dominated the whole of
cricket. He seemed to have made a fair
amount of money, but then spent it as
quick as possible. He didn’t work during the
winter and so the money raised through the
venture kept him going.”
Mean and dictatorial he may have been,
but his legacy remains and the ground is
thriving, some 175 years after its inception.
(2) Trent Bridge’s iconic status is held thanks
in no small part to the pavilion built in 1886.
The design has determined the architectural
style around the ground from that date to the
present day.
Founded in 1838,Trent Bridge will celebrate
175 years at the forefront of cricket by staging
an Investec Ashes Test this summer. We’ve
picked 10 key moments in the development
of the ground you see today.
the pavilion
(1) The tale of William Clarke’s decision to
turn the land behind the Trent Bridge Inn in
1838 into a cricket ground is well told. Less
so, however, is what happened afterward.
With local cricket fans taking exception
to paying to watch the sport they had
previously enjoyed for free, he made a loss
on the ground and relocated to London.
trent bridge celebrates
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