Overview

One of Surrey's older grounds - and described in Lord Alverstone's book on Surrey cricket as one of the best pitches - it was first used in 1856, but it only developed when Cranleigh School opened nine years later. They had no pitch of their own, and so paid ttw thirds of the costs of fencing off the common land and of the annual upkeep thereafter, The common was used by the school until 1924, for cricket and athletics, with the village using it on weekends. Cranleigh were one of Surrey's most prestigeous sides through to the 1960s, and the club retains a central role in village life. The old thatched pavilion was burnt down by a local arsonist and was replaced by the current brick structure in 1956.