London Sports Travel Tips by St_Vincent

Theme: Other

The MCC cricket museum at Lords is the oldest sports museum in the world dating back to 1953 and takes you through 400 years of cricket history with paintings, photos, artefacts and old cricketing equipment. All the great players are featured from WG Grace to Don Bradman to Ian Botham and even a broken bat used by current England favourite Andrew Flintoff. Then there is the macabre sight of the famous stuffed sparrow which was killed in flight by a cricket ball hit by Jehengir Khan back in 1936.

But the star attraction of course is the ashes urn dating back to 1882. In that year England were beaten on home soil for the first time by Australia and a newspaper printed an obituary to English cricket stating that the body would be burned and the ashes taken to Australia. Later that year England went to Australia and after beating them their captain Ivo Bligh made a speech about retrieving the ashes of English cricket. He was later given a small urn full of ashes (allegedly from a pair of cricket bails) that he bought back to England. The original urn now sits in the MCC museum and a replica is awarded to the winning team in the England vs. Australia “Ashes” series of cricket matches that take pace every couple of years.

Admission is £3 and a visit can be combined with a tour of the Lords ground.


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Phone: 020 7616 8595
Address: St John's Wood Rd, London, NW8 8QN
Directions: The museum is located in Lord's Cricket Ground, nearest tube stations St John's Wood (Jubilee) or Warwick Avenue (Bakerloo).
Website: www.lords.org
Other Contact: e-mail Tours@mcc.org.uk

Theme: Sports Watching

Take a tour around Lord’s Cricket Ground in St. John’s Wood, home of both Marylebone and Middlesex cricket clubs and considered to be “The Home of Cricket.” Take in the 1890’s built pavilion with the famous Long Room then have a look around the MCC Museum with exhibits covering 400 years of cricket including the Ashes urn. Lords also has one of the few Real Tennis courts in the UK. This original form of the game is also called Royal or Court Tennis or Jeu de Paume in other countries.

You can then continue round the ground and get great views from the new Grandstand, the Mound Stand and the iconic and strangely shaped Media centre opposite the pavilion, which somehow finished above St Paul’s Cathedral in a 2001 poll of Britain’s fifty best buildings.

Tours take place most days throughout the year but it is advisable to check first as they are curtailed if there is a big game being played. Cost is around £8 including admission to the museum.


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Phone: 020 7616 8595
Address: St Johns Wood Road, London, NW8 8QN
Directions: Nearest tube stations St John's Wood (Jubilee) or Warwick Avenue (Bakerloo).
Website: www.lords.org
Other Contact: e-mail Tours@mcc.org.uk