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Laleham Burway is a tract of water-meadow and former water-meadow between the River Thames and Abbey River in the far north of Chertsey in Surrey. Its uses are varied. Part is Laleham Golf Club. Semi-permanent park homes in the west form residential development along with a brief row of houses with gardens against the Thames. A reservoir and water works is on the island.
From at least the year 1278 its historic bulky northern definition formed part of the dominant estate of Laleham across the river, its Manorialism, to which it was linked by a ferry until the early 20th century. Its owner in period from the mid-19th until the early 20th century was thus the Earl of Lucan; however when its manor house was sold to become Laleham Abbey, a short-lived nunnery, its tenants had taken it over or it was sold for public works. The southern part of the effective island sharing the name of the Burway or Laleham Burway was the Abbey Mead. It was kept since the seventh century among many square miles of land, priories, chantries, tithes (rectories) and churches of Chertsey Abbey until the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
The part legally separate from Abbey Mead (being together a large leat island with a broad anabranch beside them), the narrower definition comprised . In 1911 these remained largely for horse and cow pasture.
Part of it was a cricket venue in the 18th century and the home of Chertsey Cricket Club.
The Burway is in a grant of Laleham manor during the 18th century. At the beginning of the 19th century it is described as paying no tithes or taxes to either parish. In 1911 it belonged to owners of estates within the manor of Laleham, and the pasture was divided into 300 parts called 'farrens,' the tenancies of which was granted variously to feed horses or to support cow and a half at £1 17s. 6d. and £1 5s. annually, respectively. If a farren was sold it was worth about £40. The Burway was not inclosed under the Laleham Inclosure Act 1774 (14 Geo. 3. c. 114 ) for inclosing the common fields of Laleham Manor in Chertsey, exempted from the act of Parliament of 1808 for inclosing Laleham but inclosed under the (53 Geo. 3. c. 25 ), when the Earl of Lucan, new lord of the manor, acquired by allotment and purchase about .
Laleham Burway (including Abbey Mead, its parent and together forming one main island) is the largest river island of the non-tidal course of the River Thames in England upstream of the Tideway — if disqualifying the villages of Dorney and Eton, Berkshire enclosed by the 2002-completed Jubilee River.
Numerous matches were played at Laleham Burway during the 18th century. It has long been believed that one famous match which took place at the ground was the one on in which Thomas White's huge bat caused a furore that led to a change in the Laws of Cricketand the match was the Chertsey v Hambledon Club game on Monday, 23 and Tuesday, 24 September 1771. Cricket historian John Goulstone has suggested that the evidence for this may be a Twentieth Century forgery and the incident may have taken place during a different game at a different location.
Several important matches were played on the ground in the 1770s, many with Surrey as the home team, and one between England (i.e., the "rest" of England) and Hampshire.
The ground is known to have been used by Chertsey until June 1784, although it has been used in the 20th century for some cricket. Chetsey Cricket Club had "ceased to exist" by 1856 Minutes of Chertsey Recreation Committee meeting on 4 August 1856 and its revival began at the Recreation Ground in Chertsey, followed by its present ground, Grove Road, after the First World War.
Cricket history
During the 1736 English cricket season Chertsey Cricket Club played matches against Croydon and London. It is known that two games were played against Croydon before July that season: one at Duppas Hill in Croydon and the other at the Laleham Burway ground.Announcement in Read's Weekly Journal dated Saturday, 3 July, about a deciding game on Richmond Green to be played on Monday, 5 July.
(2001). 9781900592345 ISBN 9781900592345
See also
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