Playing Bowls on the Lawn of the Royal Hospital Chelsea

© the artist's estate / Bridgeman Images. Image credit: The Royal Hospital Chelsea

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Traced certainly to the thirteenth century, and conjecturally to the twelfth, the world’s oldest surviving Bowling Green is the Southampton Old Bowling Green, which was first used in 1299. As the game grew in popularity it came under the ban of king and parliament, both fearing it might jeopardise the practice of archery, then so important in battle. Statutes forbidding it and other sports were enacted in the reigns of Edward III, Richard II and other monarchs. Even when, on the invention of gunpowder and firearms, the bow had fallen into disuse as a weapon of war, the prohibition continued. In 1511 Henry VIII confirmed previous enactments against unlawful games, which was not repealed until 1845 – artificers, labourers, apprentices, servants and the like were forbidden to play bowls at any time except Christmas, and then only in their master’s house and presence.

The Royal Hospital Chelsea

London

Title

Playing Bowls on the Lawn of the Royal Hospital Chelsea

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 90 x W 120 cm

Accession number

562

Work type

Painting

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The Royal Hospital Chelsea

Royal Hospital Road, London, Greater London SW3 4SR England

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