The Early Years

The Lates 1880’s


In 1889 the Nunwick Hall estate near Great Salkeld was purchased by Richard Heywood Thompson. Heywood had been the land agent to the 16th Earl of Derby.

Around 1890’s

Richard Thompsons passions included cricket and the church. His employees were encouraged to sing in the church choir and to play cricket for his newly formed team of Nunwick.

As well as the interest noted above he also had far reaching ambitions for the community. In 1895 he had built the village Reading Rooms and stocked it with over 450 volumes. The village hall was added to the reading rooms a little later in 1911.

He also had aspirations for the greater community and was chairman of the Jubilee Hospital committee which was formed to raise funds for the building on Beacon Edge Penrith. In this role he laid the foundation stone in July 1897. For further details of this please visit www.penrithtrails.co.uk/beacon.php
This building served the community for over 100 years before being converted in to flats, after being made redundant by the new hospital closer to the town centre.

The early fixtures were those against the neighbouring estates such as Sir Richard Musgrave of Eden hall, Sir Henry Vane of Hutton-in-the-Forest, Henry Howard of Greystoke and the Earl of Lonsdale at Lowther to name but a few.

The pavillion from this time was small painted green and made of wood and unable to accommodate 11 modern day kit bags let alone the kit for 22 players. The building was finally demolished in 1990 to make way for the new pavillion. The cricket teas at this time were taken in the hall a few hundred yards away where lavish meals were served as the liquor flowed.

A ladies cricket match was played at the ground in the early part of the 1890’s.

While no official league fixtures were played around this time, the Cumberland & Westmorland Herald printed the coming weekends fixtures and the results from the previous weekend.

One suspects that if seeking estate employment a cricketing ability was an advantage. It appears that somewhat underhand practice of “ringers” was not unknown. Listed below are a few of the more notable cricketers from that time.

Joseph Kennan

Joseph was one of the first in a long line of cricketers who also worked on the estate. He was the head Gardener, and was one those responsible for laying the original ground as well as being a noted demon bowler.

Arthur Ruell

Arthur’s family were noted groundsmen, among them cared for Carlisle’s ground and one who was the professional and groundsman at Penrith.

Harry Britten


Harry was a gamekeeper on the estate and his cricket exploits are over shadowed by his interests in wild life. On leaving the estate before the outbreak of the first World War he joined Hope Department at the University Museum Oxford, and shortly after the cessation of the war he joined Manchester Museum as Assistant Keeper of Entomology.

Ben Barrell

Ben Barrell a player who was on the fringes of the Lancashire CC scene played a an occasional game for Nunwick.

Sydney Lillywhite

Sydney was born in Sussex where his father James Lillywhite was a county player, who also captained England on their tour of Australia in 1877.