A Short History of Bowling

Origins

Bowls historians believe that the game developed from the Egyptians.  One of their pastimes was to play skittles with round stones.  This has been determined based on artefacts found in tombs dating circa 5,000 B.C.  The sport spread across the world and took on a variety of forms, Bocce (Italian), Bolla (Saxon), Bolle (Danish), Boules (French) and Ula Maika (Polynesian). 

Bowls in the UK

The oldest Bowls green still played on is in Southampton, England where records show that the green has been in operation since 1299 A.D.  There are other claims of greens being in use before that time, but these are, as yet, unsubstantiated.

The game became so popular that it lured the nation’s soldiers away from archery practice and King Richard II made bowling illegal in 1388.

King Henry VIII was a keen lawn bowler and installed a number of bowling greens at his Palace in Whitehall.  However, he issued a proclamation in 1511 declaring bowls an “evil sport, played in conjunction with saloons and other dissolute places” and banned the game for those who were not wealthy or "well to do" because "Bowyers, Fletchers, Stringers and Arrowhead makers" were spending more time at recreational events such as bowls instead of practising their trade.  Henry VIII introduced a licensing system for bowls greens in 1535.  Then in 1541 imposed a restriction that anybody who wished to keep a green on their own land must have an annual income of at least 100 pounds.  However, these greens could only be used for private play and he forbade anyone to "play at any bowle or bowles in open space out of his own garden or orchard".

The most famous story in lawn bowls is with Sir Frances Drake and the Spanish Armada.  On July 18, 1588, Drake was involved in a game at Plymouth Hoe when he was notified that the Spanish Armada were approaching.  His immortalised response was that "We still have time to finish the game and to thrash the Spaniards, too."   He then proceeded to finish the match which he lost before embarking on the fight with the Armada which he won.  Whether this famous story really took place has been heavily debated.

King James I issued a publication called "The Book of Sports" and, although he condemned football (soccer) and golf, encouraged the play of bowls.  In 1845, the ban was lifted, and people were again allowed to play bowls and other games of skill.

In Scotland bowls really took off during the 19th century with W G Mitchell being responsible for the set of rules that regulated the game.  It was the Scottish example that fired W G Grace and his fellows to encourage the formation of bowls clubs in London at Crystal and Alexandra Palaces. 

As with many English sports, Lawn Bowls spread to the British colonies from the 1600s onwards. Lawn Bowls was first played in North America in the early 1600's in the United States.   Records show that President George Washington played bowls on his estate.   In Canada, the sport was introduced around 1730 at Port Royal in Nova Scotia.   In Australia, bowls first was played in Sandy Bay, Tasmania in 1844.  The game appeared in New Zealand sometime during the 30 years after that.  The World Bowling Board (WBB) is now responsible for the standardisation of rules across the world, and is charged with the task of encouraging the growth of the game world-wide.

Governing Bodies

There are two main bodies in England for lawn bowls:

The English Bowling Association (EBA) was founded in 1903, the brainchild of W G Grace, and it is a very well organised sport which hosts numerous competitions from the club to the national level. There are now some 5000 clubs throughout the UK affiliated to the EBA. The sport is most popular in the South of England with thousands of devotees. Because success doesn't require physical fitness, it is particularly favoured by older folk but there are a lot of younger players, too.

The English Bowling Federation was founded in 1945, although it started earlier in the North-East when four clubs formed an alliance adapting the EBA rules to allow any reasonable grassed and level area to be used as well as more flexible hours of play.  This more relaxed approach encouraged several public houses to provide greens.   The alliance spread and by 1926 Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Norfolk formed the Midland and East Anglian Bowling Association.  By 1929 other Counties, including Suffolk, had joined, followed by Durham and Northumberland in 1936.  In 1945 this amalgamation of Counties took the title English Bowling Federation (EBF).

Hadleigh Bowling Club is affiliated to both EBA and EBF and enter teams under both sets of rules.

 

 

Bowls & Jacks

Bowls

It is thought that the Romans introduced the game of bowls to Europe and originally bowls were formed of smooth round stones, but by 1409 they were made of wood.  The bias was introduced in the sixteenth century to make it more difficult for bowlers and this has continued to the present day.  The term “woods” I still used to describe bowls although they are today made of synthetic materials.

Woods come in various sizes from 00 (the smallest) to 7 (the largest), in different weights – normally described as “heavy” and “medium” – and with different bias dependent on manufacturer and model.  Unbiased woods are not allowed.

Jacks

The earliest documented use of the word 'Jack' in Bowls is either from 1611 "Was there euer man had such lucke? when I kist the Iacke vpon an vp-cast, to be hit away?" or alternatively Shakespeare used it in Cymbeline (thought to have been written in 1609) when he caused Cloten to exclaim, "Was there ever man had such luck! When I kissed the jack, upon an up-cast to be hit away."

There are competing theories as to etymological origin of the word "Jack". John P Monro, Bowls Encyclopaedia (3rd ed), gives that the name 'jack' is derived from the Latin word jactus, meaning a cast or a throw. A sport played by young men called "casting the stone" is mentioned by William FitzStephen, a close friend of Thomas à Becket, in the preface of his biography Vita Sancti Thomae written during the twelfth century . Casting of stones translates in Latin as "jactu lapidum" and was a game in which rounded stones were thrown at or bowled towards a target object and so some are persuaded that the modern word 'Jack' derives originally from this term.

But the most straightforward theory is that it appears that Jack in some contexts meant a slightly smaller version of something. For example a jack-rabbit is a little rabbit. In this case a 'Jack-Bowl', was the little bowl, later shortened to 'Jack'. In 1697 R. Pierce wrote "He had not Strength to throw the Jack-Bowl half over the Green".

In East Anglia the Jack is often referred to as a “Cot