(Unlisted in 1973, but "should be listed" according to the Appreciation, and now Grade II listed)
(Unlisted in 1973, but "should be listed" according to the Appreciation, and now Grade II listed)
The pitch and its predecessors have an interesting past. The Earl of Ilchester offered land to the village (not the current cricket pitch, but a field below Chapel Hill) in 1928 on a 10-year lease at a nominal rent. When the lease expired in 1938, the Earl learned that the law prevented him from either giving the ground to the village, or offering it on a long enough lease to qualify for a National Playing Fields Association grant. He resolved the dilemma by selling the field to the Parish Council outright for £5.00 ~ and donating the money for the purchase, so that it cost the Parish Council nothing at all to acquire. With the demise of the Abbotsbury Parish Council in 1973 and its incorporation to the Chesil Bank group Parish Council, ownership passed to the new body, and the Council is currently exploring funding for a children's play area on part of the field.