File:The new cricket-ground, Manchester - ILN 1857.jpg

Article: CRICKET IN MANCHESTER. THE NEW CRICKET-GROUND, MANCHESTER. Manchester cricket season of 1857 promises to be marked by energy and spirit; and the various clubs in the neighbourhood, numbering above a dozen within four miles of the Exchange, are preparing to carry on the noble and athletic game with unusual eclat. The appropriation of the site of the Manchester Cricket-ground for the Art-Treasures Exhibition Building has necessitated the removal of the meetings to an adjacent plot of ground. A commodious clubhouse has been built and the ground levelled and prepared ready for the opening match between Manchester and Liverpool, fixed for the 10th and 11th of June. The Western Club commenced operations on their new ground at Eccles, near Manchester, on Saturday, 23rd May, when, notwithstanding the somewhat unfavourable character of the weather, a great number of ladies and gentlemen were assembled, and watched with interest the cricketers, and listened to the strains of the military band which was in attendance. The grounds are well situated, in the most picturesque environ of Manchester, and are laid out most tastefully. There are, in addition to the spaoe devoted to cricket, a large bowling-green, and an excellent quoiting-ground. A pavilion of corrugated iron, tastefully ornamented and decorated, has been erected for the use of the members by Messrs Edward T. Bellhouse and Co., of Manchester. This erection covers a space of about 50 feet by 40 feet, and contains a diningroom 40 feet by 22 feet, and some half-dozen smaller rooms, and is a good example of the adaptation of iron as a building material. The committee has expended about £1000 in the preparation of the grounds and the building of the pavilion. We engrave a View of the grounds and the-gay assemblage, sketched on the opening day. w:Illustrated London News, 13 June 1857, p. 587.