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BOWLS

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 349 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BOWLS  , the See also:

oldest See also:British outdoor pastime, next to See also:archery, still in See also:vogue . It has been traced certainly to the 13th, and conjecturally to the 12th See also:century . See also:William Fitzstephen See also:History . (d. about 1190), in his See also:biography of See also:Thomas See also:Becket, gives a graphic See also:sketch of the See also:London of his See also:day and, See also:writing of the summer amusements of the See also:young men, says that on holidays they were " exercised in Leaping, See also:Shooting . See also:Wrestling, Casting of Stones [in jactu lapidum], and Throwing of Javelins fitted with Loops for the Purpose, which they strive to fling before the See also:Mark; they also use Bucklers, like fighting Men." It is commonly supposed that by jactus lapidum Fitzstephen meant the See also:game of bowls, but though it is possible that See also:round stones may sometimes have been employed in an See also:early variety of the game—and there is a See also:record of See also:iron bowls being used, though at a much later date, on festive occasions at See also:Nairn, —nevertheless the inference seems unwarranted . The jactus lapidum of which he speaks was probably more akin to the See also:modern " putting the See also:weight," once even called " putting the See also:stone." It is beyond dispute, however, that the game, at any See also:rate in a rudimentary See also:form, was played in the 13th century . A MS. of that See also:period in the royal library, See also:Windsor (No . 20, E iv.), contains a See also:drawing representing two players aiming at a small See also:cone instead of an earthenware See also:ball or See also:jack . Another MS. of the same century has a picture--crude, but spirited—which brings us into See also:close See also:touch with the existing game . Three figures are introduced and a jack . The first player's bowl has come to See also:rest just in front of the jack; the second has delivered his bowl and is following after it with one of those See also:eccentric contortions still not unusual on modern greens, the first player meanwhile making a repressive gesture with his See also:hand, as if to urge the bowl to stop See also:short of his own; the third player is depicted as in the See also:act of delivering his bowl . A 14th-century MS .

See also:

Book of Prayers in the See also:Francis See also:Douce collection in the Bodleian library at See also:Oxford contains a drawing in which two pe=rsons are shown, but they bowl to no mark . See also:Strutt (See also:Sports and Pastimes) suggests that the first player's bowl may have been regarded by the second player as a See also:species of jack; but in that See also:case it is not clear what was the first player's See also:target . In these three earliest illustrations of the pastime it is See also:worth noting that each player has one bowl only, and that the attitude in delivering it was as various five or six See also:hundred years ago as it is to-day . In the third he stands almost upright; in the first he kneels; in the second he stoops, halfway between the upright and the kneeling position . As the game See also:grew in popularity it came under the See also:ban of See also:king and See also:parliament, both fearing it might jeopardize the practice of archery, then so important in See also:battle; and statutes forbidding it and other sports were enacted in the reigns of See also:Edward III., See also:Richard II. and other monarchs . Even when, on the invention of See also:gunpowder and firearms, the See also:bow had fallen into disuse as a weapon of See also:war, the See also:prohibition was continued . The discredit attaching to See also:bowling alleys, first established in London in 1455, probably encouraged subsequent repressive legislation, for many of the alleys were connected with taverns frequented by the dissolute and gamesters . The word " bowls " occurs for the first See also:time in the See also:statute of 1511 in which See also:Henry VIII. confirmed previous enactments against unlawful See also:games . By a further act of 1541—which was not repealed until 1845—artificers, labourers, apprentices, servants and the like were forbidden to See also:play bowls at any time See also:save See also:Christmas, and then only in their See also:master's See also:house and presence . It was further enjoined that any one playing bowls outside of his own See also:garden or See also:orchard was liable to a See also:penalty of 6s . 8d., while those possessed of lands of the yearly value of £See also:loo might obtain licences to play on their own private greens . But though the same statute absolutely prohibited bowling alleys, Henry VIII. had them constructed for his own See also:pleasure at See also:Whitehall See also:Palace, and was wont to back himself when he played .

In See also:

Mary's reign (1555) the licences were withdrawn, the See also:queen or her advisers deeming the game an excuse for " unlawful assemblies, conventicles, seditions and conspiracies." The scandals of the bowling alleys grew rampant in Elizabethan London, and See also:Stephen See also:Gosson in his School of Abuse (1579) says, " See also:Common bowling alleys are privy moths that eat up the See also:credit of many idle citizens; whose gains at See also:home are not able to weigh down their losses abroad; whose shops are so far from maintaining their play, that their wives and See also:children cry out for See also:bread, and go to See also:bed supperless often in the See also:year." Biased bowls were introduced in the 16th century . " A little altering of the one See also:side," says See also:Robert See also:Recorde, the mathematician, in his See also:Castle of Knowledge (1556), " maketh the bowl to run biasse waies." And See also:Shakespeare (Richard II., Act . III . Sc . 4) causes the queen to remonstrate, in reply to her See also:lady's See also:suggestion of a game at bowls to relieve her ennui, "'See also:Twill make me think the See also:world is full of rubs, and that my See also:fortune runs against the See also:bias." This passage is interesting also as showing that See also:women were accustomed to play the game in those days . It is pleasant to think that there is See also:foundation for the See also:familiar See also:story of See also:Sir Francis See also:Drake playing bowls on See also:Plymouth See also:Hoe as the See also:Armada was beating up Channel, and See also:finishing his game before tackling the Spaniards . Bowls, at that date, was looked upon as a legitimate amusement for Sundays,—as, indeed, were many other sports . When See also:John See also:Knox visited See also:Calvin at See also:Geneva one See also:Sunday, it is said that he discovered him engaged in a game; and John See also:Aylmer (1521-1594), though See also:bishop of London, enjoyed a game of a Sunday afternoon, but used such See also:language " as justly exposed his See also:character to reproach." The pastime found favour with the Stuarts . In the Book of Sports (1618), See also:James I. recommended a moderate See also:indulgence to his son, See also:Prince Henry, and See also:Charles I. was an enthusiastic bowler, unfortunately encouraging by example wagering and playing for high stakes, habits that ultimately brought the See also:green into as See also:general disrepute as the See also:alley . It is recorded that the king occasionally visited Richard Shute, a See also:Turkey See also:merchant who owned a beautiful green at See also:Barking See also:Hall, and that after one bout his losses were £l000 . He was permitted to play his favourite game to beguile the tedium of his captivity . The signboard of a wayside See also:inn near See also:Goring See also:Heath in See also:Oxfordshire See also:long See also:bore a portrait of the king withcouplets reciting how his See also:majesty " drank from the bowl, and bowl'd for what he drank." During his stay at the See also:Northampton-See also:shire See also:village of Holdenby or Holmby—where Sir Thomas See also:Herbert complains the green was not well kept—Charles frequently rode over to See also:Lord Vaixx's See also:place at Harrowden, or to Lord See also:Spencer's at Althorp, for a game, and, according to one See also:account, was actually playing on the latter green when See also:Cornet Joyce came to Holmby to remove him to other quarters .

During this period gambling had become a See also:

mania . John See also:Aubrey, the See also:antiquary, See also:chronicles that the sisters of Sir John Suckling, the courtier-poet, once went to the bowling-green in 'Piccadilly, crying, " for fear he should lose all their portions." If the Puritans regarded bowls with no friendly See also:eye, as Lord See also:Macaulay asserts, one can hardly wonder at it . But even the Puritans could not suppress betting . So eminently respectable a See also:person as John See also:Evelyn thought no harm in bowling for stakes, and once played at the Durdans, near See also:Epsom, for £ro, winning match and See also:money, as he triumphantly notes in his See also:Diary for the 14th of See also:August 1657 . See also:Samuel See also:Pepys repeatedly mentions finding See also:great See also:people " at bowies." But in time the excesses attending the game rendered it unfashionable, and after the Revolution it became practically a pothouse recreation, nearly all the greens, like the alleys, having been constructed in the grounds and gardens attached to taverns . After a long See also:interval salvation came from See also:Scotland, somewhat unexpectedly, because although, along with its See also:winter analogue of See also:curling, bowls may now be considered, much more than See also:golf, the Scottish See also:national game, it was not until well into the 19th century that the pastime acquired popularity in that See also:country . It had been known in Scotland since the close of the 16th century (the See also:Glasgow See also:kirk session fulminated an See also:edict against Sunday bowls in 1595), but greens were few and far between . There is record of a See also:club in See also:Haddington in 1709, of Tom Bicket's green in See also:Kilmarnock in 1740, of greens in Candleriggs and Gallowgate, Glasgow, and of one in See also:Lanark in 1750, of greens in the grounds of See also:Heriot's See also:hospital, See also:Edinburgh, See also:prior to 1768, and of one in See also:Peebles in 1775 . These are, of course, See also:mere infants compared with the See also:Southampton See also:Town Bowling Club, founded in 1299, which still uses the green on which it has played for centuries and possesses the See also:quaint See also:custom of describing its master, or See also:president, as " sir," and are younger even than the See also:Newcastle-on-See also:Tyne club established in 1657 . But the earlier clubs did nothing towards organizing the game . In 1848 and 1849, however, when many clubs had come into existence in the See also:west and See also:south of Scotland (the Willowbank, dating from 1816, is the oldest club in Glasgow), meetings were held in Glasgow for the purpose of promoting a national association . This was regarded, by many, as impracticable, but a decision of final importance was reached when a consultative See also:committee was appointed to draft a See also:uniform See also:code of See also:laws to govern the game .

This See also:

body .delegated its functions to its secretary, W . W . See also:Mitchell (1803-1884), who prepared a code that was immediately adopted in Scotland as the See also:standard laws . It was in this sense that Scottish bowlers saved the game . They were, besides, pioneers in laying down level greens of superlative excellence . Not satisfied with See also:seed-sown grass or meadow See also:turf, they experimented with seaside turf and found it See also:answer admirably . The 13th See also:earl of See also:Eglinton also set an example of active See also:interest which many magnates emulated.: Himself a keen bowler, he offered for competition, in 1854, a See also:silver bowl and, in 1857, a See also:gold bowl and the Eglinton See also:Cup, all to be played for annually . These trophies excited healthy rivalry in See also:Ayrshire and See also:Lanarkshire, and the See also:enthusiasm as well as the skill with which the game was conducted in Scotland at length proved contagious . Clubs in See also:England began to consider the question of legislation, and to improve their greens . More-over, Scottish emigrants introduced the game wherever they went, and colonists in See also:Australia and New See also:Zealand established many clubs which, in the See also:main, adopted Mitchell's laws; while clubs were also started in See also:Canada and in the See also:United States, in South See also:Africa, See also:India (See also:Calcutta, See also:Karachi), See also:Japan (Kobe, See also:Yokohama, Kumamoto) and Hong-See also:Kong . In See also:Ireland the game took See also:root very gradually, but in See also:Ulster, owing doubtless to See also:constant intercourse with Scotland, such clubs as have been founded are strong in See also:numbers and play . On the See also:European See also:continent the game can scarcely be said to be played on scientific principles .

It has existed in See also:

France since the 17th century . When John Evelyn was in See also:Paris in 1644 he saw it played in the gardens of the Luxembourg Palace . In the south of France it is rather popular with artisans, who, however, are content to pursue it on any See also:flat See also:surface and use round instead of biased bowls, the bowler, moreover, indulging in a preliminary run before delivering the bowl, after the See also:fashion of a bowler in See also:cricket . A See also:rude variety of the game occurs in See also:Italy, and, as we have seen, John Calvin played it in Geneva, where John Evelyn also noticed it in 1646 . There is See also:evidence of its vogue in See also:Holland in the 17th century, for the See also:painting by See also:David See also:Teniers (1610-169o), in the Scottish National See also:Gallery at Edinburgh, is wrongly described as "Peasants playing at See also:Skittles." In this picture three men are represented as having played a bowl, while the See also:fourth is in the act of delivering his bowl . The game is obviously bowls, the See also:sole difference being that an upright peg, about 4 in. high, is employed instead of a jack,—recalling, in this respect, the old See also:English form of the game already mentioned . Serious efforts to organize the game were made in the last See also:quarter of the 19th century, but this time the See also:lead came from Australia . The Bowling Associations of See also:Victoria and New South See also:Wales were established in 188o, and it was not until 1892 that the Scottish Bowling Association was founded . Then in rapid See also:succession came several See also:independent bodies—the Midland Counties (1895), the London and See also:Southern Counties (1896), the Imperial (1899), the English (1903) and the Irish and Welsh (1904) . These institutions were concerned with the task of regularizing the game within the territories indicated by their titles, but it soon appeared that the multiplicity of associations was likely to prove a hindrance rather than a help, and with a view, therefore, to reducing the number of clashing jurisdictions and bringing about the See also:establishment of a single legislative authority, the Imperial amalgamated with the English B.A. in 1905 . The visits to the United See also:Kingdom of properly organized teams of bowlers from Australia and New Zealand in 1901 and from Canada in 1904 demonstrated that the game had gained enormously in popularity . The former visit was commemorated by the institution of the Australia Cup, presented to the Imperial Bowling Association (and now the See also:property of the English B.A.) by Mr Charles See also:Wood, president of the Victorian Bowling Association .

An accredited team of bowlers from the See also:

mother country visited Canada in 1906, and was accorded a royal welcome . Perhaps the most interesting See also:proof that bowls is a true Volksspiel is to be found in the fact that it has become municipalized . In Edinburgh, Glasgow, and elsewhere in Scotland, and in London (through the See also:county See also:council), Newcastle and other English towns, the corporations have laid down greens in public parks and open spaces . In Scotland the public greens are self-supporting, from a See also:charge, which includes the use of bowls, of one See also:penny an See also:hour for each player; in London the upkeep of the greens falls on the rates, but players must provide their own bowls . There are two kinds of bowling green, the level and the See also:crown . The crown has a fall which may amount to as much as 18 in . The game. all round from the centre to the sides . This type of green is confined almost wholly to certain of the See also:northern and midland counties of England, where it is popular for single-handed, See also:gate-money contests . But although the crown-green game is of a sporting character, it necessitates the use of bowls of narrow bias and affords but limited See also:scope for the display of skill and See also:science . It is the game on the perfectly level green that constitutes the See also:historical game of bowls . Subject to the See also:rule as to the shortest distance to which the jack must be thrown (25 yds.), there is no prescribed See also:size for the See also:lawn; but 42 yds. square forms an ideal green . The Queen's See also:Park and Titwood clubs in Glasgow have each three greens, and as they can quite comfortably play six rinks on each, it is not uncommon to see 144 players making their game simultaneously .

An under-sized lawn is really a poor See also:

pitch, because it involves playing from corner to corner instead of up and down—the orthodoxdirection . For the scientific construction of a green, the whole ground must be excavated to a See also:depth of 18 in. or so, and thoroughly drained, and layers of different materials (See also:gravel, cinders, moulds, silver-See also:sand) laid down before the final covering of turf, 21 or 3 in. thick . Seaside turf is the best . It wears longest and keeps its " See also:spring to the last . Surrounding the green is a space called a ditch, which is nearly but not quite on a level with the green and slopes gently away from it, the side next the turf being lined with boarding, the ditch itself bottomed with wooden spars resting on the foundation . Beyond the ditch are See also:banks generally laid with turf . A green is divided into spaces usually from 18 to 21 ft. in width, commonly styled " rinks "—a word which also designates each set of players—and these are numbered in sequence on a See also:plate fixed in the See also:bank at each end opposite the centre of the space .. The end ditch within the limits of the space is, according to Scottish laws, regarded as See also:part of the green, a regulation which prejudices the general See also:acceptance of those laws . In match play each space is further marked off from its See also:neighbour by thin See also:string securely fastened flush with the turf . Every player uses four lignum vitae bowls in single-handed games and (as a rule) in friendly games, but only two in matches . Every bowl must have a certain amount of bias, which was formerly obtained by loading one side with lead, but is now imparted by the See also:turner making one side more See also:convex than the other, the bulge showing the side of the bias . No bowl must have less than No .

Phoenix-squares

3 bias—that is, it should draw about 6 ft. to a 30 yd. jack on a first-rate green: it follows that on an inferior green the bowler, though using the same bowl, would have to allow for a narrower draw . It is also a rule that the See also:

diameter of the bowl shall not be less than 4 in. nor more than 54 in., and that its weight must not exceed 31 lb . The jack or kitty, as the See also:white earthenware ball to which the bowler bowls is called, is round and 22 to 24 in. in diameter . On crown-greens it is customary to use a small biased wooden jack to give the bowler some See also:clue to the run of the green . The bowler delivers his bowl with one See also:foot on a See also:mat or footer, made of india-See also:rubber or See also:cocoa-See also:nut fibre, the size of which is also prescribed by rule as 24 by 16 in., though, with a view to protecting the green, Australasian clubs employ a much larger size, and require the bowler to keep both feet on the mat in the act of delivery . In theory the game of bowls is very See also:simple, the aim of the player being to See also:roll his bowl so as to cause it to rest nearer to the jack than his opponent's, or to protect a well-placed bowl, or to dislodge a better bowl than his own . But in practice there is every opportunity for skill . On all See also:good greens the game is played in rinks of four a side, there being, however, on the part of many English clubs still an adherence to the old-fashioned method of two and three a side rinks . Ordinarily a match team consists of four rinks of four players each, or sixteen men in all . The four players in a rink are known as the See also:leader, second player, third player and skip (or See also:driver, See also: