The London County Bowling Club was originally formed on the site of the Crystal Palace tennis courts.
WG Grace may have been England’s greatest-ever cricketer but he had interests in many sports and towards the end of his cricketing career in the late 1890s, he began to take a keen interest in bowls.
In 1899, WG Grace accepted an invitation from the Crystal Palace Company to help them form the London County Cricket Club at the Crystal Palace Exhibition complex.
He became the club’s secretary, manager and captain. He was pivotal in establishing the London County Bowling Club in 1901.
On 8 June 1903 in Crystal Palace’s cricket pavilion, a group headed by WG, formed the English Bowling Association with himself as President.
Grace recognised that the popularity of the game was such that bowling in the winter was a viable proposition. In 1905 Crystal Palace Indoor Bowling Club was formed, playing within the Crystal Palace Great Exhibition centre’s main gallery, thereby establishing England’s first indoor bowling club.
The great fire of 1936 destroyed the whole exhibition centre. As a result of a rebuilding programme, in 1937, the CPIBC was once again up and bowling in its present home, in Anerley, just down the hill from its original location.
