Is Chesterfield Bowling Club the oldest in the world? Well, it certainly has a very long and fascinating history, as David R Howes reveals
NOBODY EVER SPEAKS about the history of bowls without referring to Sir Francis Drake, playing on Plymouth Hoe on July 19, 1588 at the time of the Armada. But a lesser known historical fact is that behind a high wall in the centre of Chesterfield is an historic Bowling Green, which is reputed to date back almost 300 years earlier to the reign of King Edward 1…