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Lords, London

Lords is named after Thomas Lord, a Scot who ran a business importing fine Scottish turf. Lords houses what it terms the oldest sports museum in the world. The original ashes urn is on display along with kit used by the great players, and a gallery of cricket portraits.

Opening Times: The museum is open on match days during the summer, and also as part of the Lords guided tour. The tour takes in the media centre, the Long Room - a cricketing art gallery - and the Lords pub.

Today we think of a stadium like Lords as a place created for people to go and watch a sporting event. In fact the original purpose of the enclosed ground at Lords was to keep people out. The aristocracy did not like ordinary people gathering to watch their games, and they approached Thomas Lord to set up a ground where they could play in privacy. This original Lords was built at Dorset Fields in Marylebone, a place which gave its name to the Marylebone Cricket Club, organised around the new facility. It was here that the rules of cricket as we know them were laid down, and the MCC continues as the finally authority in cricket. The MCC moved to its present ground at Lords in St Johns Wood in 1814.

Today of course the aim of a stadium is still to control access for spectators, but the aim now is to get them in rather than keep them out. The money from spectators is needed. The commercialism this implies is undoubtedly a step up from the exclusivity of a sport which in its early days ran on snobbery and gambling. See our History of Sport for more details.

Directions: Lords is just off St John's Wood Road in St Johns Wood, north London. Click here for an interactive map centred on Lords.

Access: Special times are set aside for disabled access.

Contact:

phone: 02072891611

e-mail communication@mcc.org.uk.

web site www.mcc.org.uk