We don't have any photos of this building yet. Why don't you be the first to send us one?
Latitude: 51.1871 / 51°11'13"N
Longitude: 0.1814 / 0°10'53"E
OS Eastings: 552546
OS Northings: 145362
OS Grid: TQ525453
Mapcode National: GBR MP2.JPH
Mapcode Global: VHHQ5.3F89
Plus Code: 9F3255PJ+VH
Entry Name: Former Cricket Ball Factory in the Grounds of the Paddocks
Listing Date: 23 October 1990
Grade: II
Source: Historic England
Source ID: 1244265
English Heritage Legacy ID: 449185
ID on this website: 101244265
Location: Sevenoaks, Kent, TN11
County: Kent
District: Sevenoaks
Civil Parish: Leigh
Traditional County: Kent
Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Kent
Church of England Parish: Leigh
Church of England Diocese: Rochester
Tagged with: Architectural structure
The following building shall be added to the list:-
TQ 54 NW
50/1548
LEIGH
PENSHURST ROAD
Former Cricket Ball factory in the grounds of the Paddocks.
GV
II
Former factory, currently garage and outbuilding. Late C18 or early C19.
Weatherboarded on stock brick plinth. Old tiled roof with 2 ridge brick
chimneystacks, one with vitrified headers. Centre gable with leaded rectangular
fanlight and pargetting to sides with Dutch doors. To left are 2 early C19 fixed
casements with pegged architraves, one 3-light and one 2-light with Dutch plank
doors on pintle hinges. To the right of the gable are 3 fixed casements, two 3-light
and one 2-light and a plank door with pintle hinges. Roof has collar beams and
curved tie beams and the wall framing is of thin scantling with diagonal braces.
Part is lined with lath and plaster. Bats and balls were made in this factory by
the Duke family who lived in the adjoining house 'The Paddocks'. In 1780 the Duke
family presented the 1st six-seamed cricket ball ever made to the Prince of Wales,
later George IV. In 1841 the factory was moved near Penshurst station. The Duke
family were cousins of H G Wells. Joseph Wells, his father, used to come down to
the Penshurst area to collect their cricket goods to sell at his shop in Bromley.
This building must be one of the oldest cricket ball factories extant.
[See 'The History of Kent Country Cricket' by the Right Hon Lord Harris Eyre &
Spottiswoode P 39 1907.
The register of Kent County Cricketers 1729-1906 P 281
H G Wells 'Experiment in Autobiography' P 54 and 62]
Listing NGR: TQ5254645362
External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.
Other nearby listed buildings
