Former Cricket Ball Factory in the Grounds of the Paddocks
FORMER CRICKET BALL FACTORY IN THE GROUNDS OF THE PADDOCKS, PENSHURST ROAD
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1244265
- Date first listed:
- 23-Oct-1990
- List Entry Name:
- Former Cricket Ball Factory in the Grounds of the Paddocks
- Statutory Address:
- FORMER CRICKET BALL FACTORY IN THE GROUNDS OF THE PADDOCKS, PENSHURST ROAD
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2002-07-10
- Reference:
- IOE01/07293/19
- Rights:
- © Mr John Clark. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1244265
- Date first listed:
- 23-Oct-1990
- List Entry Name:
- Former Cricket Ball Factory in the Grounds of the Paddocks
- Statutory Address 1:
- FORMER CRICKET BALL FACTORY IN THE GROUNDS OF THE PADDOCKS, PENSHURST ROAD
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- FORMER CRICKET BALL FACTORY IN THE GROUNDS OF THE PADDOCKS, PENSHURST ROAD
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Kent
- District:
- Sevenoaks (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Leigh
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ5254645362
Details
The following building shall be added to the list:-
TQ 54 NW
50/1548
LEIGH
PENSHURST ROAD
Former Cricket Ball factory in the grounds of the Paddocks.
GV
II
Former factory, currently garage and outbuilding. Late C18 or early C19.
Weatherboarded on stock brick plinth. Old tiled roof with 2 ridge brick
chimneystacks, one with vitrified headers. Centre gable with leaded rectangular
fanlight and pargetting to sides with Dutch doors. To left are 2 early C19 fixed
casements with pegged architraves, one 3-light and one 2-light with Dutch plank
doors on pintle hinges. To the right of the gable are 3 fixed casements, two 3-light
and one 2-light and a plank door with pintle hinges. Roof has collar beams and
curved tie beams and the wall framing is of thin scantling with diagonal braces.
Part is lined with lath and plaster. Bats and balls were made in this factory by
the Duke family who lived in the adjoining house 'The Paddocks'. In 1780 the Duke
family presented the 1st six-seamed cricket ball ever made to the Prince of Wales,
later George IV. In 1841 the factory was moved near Penshurst station. The Duke
family were cousins of H G Wells. Joseph Wells, his father, used to come down to
the Penshurst area to collect their cricket goods to sell at his shop in Bromley.
This building must be one of the oldest cricket ball factories extant.
[See 'The History of Kent Country Cricket' by the Right Hon Lord Harris Eyre &
Spottiswoode P 39 1907.
The register of Kent County Cricketers 1729-1906 P 281
H G Wells 'Experiment in Autobiography' P 54 and 62]
Listing NGR: TQ5254645362
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 449185
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Wells, H G, Experiment in Autobiography, (), 54 62
Eyre, Harris, Spottiswoode, , The History of Kent Country Cricket, (1907), 39
Other
The Register of Kent County Cricketers 1729-1906,
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 03-Jul-2026 at 05:21:39.
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