Following on from the excellent piece on Civil Service [150 Year Celebrations this year] David Penney has provided more information on cricket in the Phoenix Park.
'In Anthony Morrissey’s excellent article about the Civil Service Cricket Club’s 150th anniversary, he mentioned that at one time there were no less than seven cricket grounds in the Park. Many of you may wonder where they were, or at least where those grounds which are no longer in existence were. Here is a a list of what I have been able to unearth, but it may not be complete.
Every cricketer in Ireland knows that Phoenix is our oldest club, founded in 1830, but they had to move location in 1836 to their present site when the main road was built through the Park. Their original site was a piece of ground cut through by the road east of the present ground.
The Civil Service club have always played on the same ground, but there was a period during the 1870’s or 1880’s (Anthony might have the details) when the club was forced to suspend cricket activities due to vandalism.
Where were the other five grounds? Well there were definitely more. Some can be identified, others may have been open spaces used once or more regularly, but never recognised officially.
The original Viceragal ground is now, I think, a flower bed, probably to the east of the Presidents official residence, Áras an Uachtaráin. This seems to be the most likely location on examination of the Ordnance Survey maps of the time.
I have not been able to locate the public ground accurately. Anthony states that it was near the American Embassy. I must admit that I always thought that it was on or to the south of the Polo ground, which was also used for cricket. The reason for this confusion is that reports of cricket matches played by clubs (or teams) without a ground mention sometimes either the Nine Acres, which is where the Polo ground is, or the Fifteen Acres, which is the open space where Mass was celebrated by the Pope in 1979, and where the cross is now. The latter space seems to have been used for several matches each Saturday (no Sunday cricket back then), so there is no evidence of any cricket squares, You played your game where there was space. The newspaper reports suggest 2-4 matches at the same time.
The Royal Irish Constabulary had a ground which must be the same as the Garda sports ground.
The Garrison ground was located quite close to the Garda ground, and a cinder athletic track was layed down there in about 1930. Again, I’m not sure of the exact location, but if my sense of Geography is correct, there were four grounds within a ball cast of each other from about 1870 through to World War One: Phoenix, Civil Service, RIC and Garrison.
Towards the southwest, the Royal Hibernian Military School was housed in the complex just north of Chapelizod Gate. I am not exactly sure what this site is used for now, but I think it was used as a hospital for ‘mentally’ handicapped people up until very recently. The cricket ground, which was also a hockey ground, is now partially built on. It was just north of the original Victorian school buildings.
The Workingmen’s club had a ground which I think is the playing area on the other side of the little wood behind the Phoenix club house (on the left side of the main road as you drive from the City end). All evidence available suggests this is the case.
The Ordnance Survey Club had a very small ground behind the present Ordnance Survey (if they are still there) just south of Castleknock Gate. It was called Mountjoy Barracks. The ground is also partially built on now, and a wood seems to cover most of the remainder.
There are also vague reports in the Newspapers of ad-hoc games being played on the White Fields south of Ashtown Gate and west of Castleknock Gate. The newspaper sources are the Irish Times achives and the Freeman’s Journal, the paper which reported the first cricket match in Ireland back in 1792. That match was also somewhere in the Park.
Where then is the oldest cricket ground in Ireland still in active service? Phoenix had to move in 1836. Lisburn up North was established in the same year. Mount Juliet’s ground was originally on the other side of the river to their present ground. The Mardyke in Cork was first used by the original ‘Cork’ club about 1840. I came across an article in the Freeman’s Journal (repeated in the Belfast Telegraph) from about 1820 or 1821, which, in the style of the period, stated that the ‘manly sport’ was played constantly, not in the Park (although it may have been), but in College Park. If this is true, this makes the ground DUCC play on the oldest cricket ground in Ireland which has been in active service ever since year, apart from 1915-1918.
To return to the public cricket grounds in Phoenix Park, there is no cartographic evidence of where it was located. We must conclude that there is reference to a space where many matches could be played simultaneously, but no area confined by a boundary.
If anybody can provide further details, please add them'
Ger Siggins adds: The history of the Park says there were 20 cricket grounds around 1900 - the GAA pitch just past Phoenix heading west has a structure which can only be a cricket pavilion.