Playing Field History

These further notes about the history of Winchester Football are written while one of the principle modern playing areas, Palmer Field, has lain unplayable for weeks because of the recent wet weather and standing water.

Palmer itself was first used in the spring of 1927 and was formally opened for soccer on 22 January of that year.  At the time of its opening, it was described as lying ‘between River and the Great Western Railway and is known to recent generations of Wykehamists as Delta Field [because of its shape].. Fortunately for the school, Mr Alfred Palmer, and Mr Eustace Palmer, the grandfather and father of Gerald Palmer the Captain of Lords in 1923 came to the rescue and thanks to their generosity it was found possible to undertake the considerable task of levelling Delta Field.’

Work started in the summer of 1924.  Standing water, that would be familiar to the grounds staff of 2026, appeared over the winter of 1925-26 and were resolved in time for a season of grazing, cutting and rolling throughout 1926.

Charles Stevens, in his Winchester Notions, incorrectly conflates Commoner Field with Delta Field, later Palmer Field.

Commoner Field was a piece of land between Domum Wharf (now Boat Club) and Portsmouth Road (now Bar End Road).  Defined in Thomson’s Notion Book of the mid 19th century as 'the field used by Commoners for cricket and football', it was owned by a Captain Duncan and rented from him by Commoners.  The Old Tutors’ Houses Accounts for 1874 show payments for use of Commoner Field of £5 5s in 1873 and of £7 5s in 1874.  Presumably, Commoners made similar payments.

The demise of Commoner Field closely followed Ridding’s development of New Field, which opened in 1869.  The last games played on Commoners Field were during the 1879 season.  It is likely that the lease ended to allow for construction of the Didcot Newbury and Southampton Railway.  The line reached Winchester in 1885 when the Winchester Cheesehill station opened.  Tracks extended to Bar End (though not yet connecting south of Winchester) to the goods facilities laid out where once Commoner Field had been. 

A feature of the later years of Commoner Field was that it held ‘the only surviving specimen of a real ‘canvas’, coarse canvas with many holes in it, stretched on wooden framework, much the worse for wear.’  Herbert Chitty goes on to explain that ‘the modern netting on iron gas-pipes seems to have been used by College for the first time in 1866’ on Meads.

A final note on the origins of canvas, the term we now use to describe: a. the ground on which Win Co Fo is played; b. the netting down each side of the ground; c. the squads from which College, Commoner and OTH sides are selected.  An Old Wykehamist, Revd William Tuckwell (Coll, 1842-8), wrote that the Second Master, Charles Wordsworth abolished the practice of juniors kicking in, probably around 1843.  Prior to that the game was played between ropes and relied on juniors to return the ball by kicking it fairly or otherwise if it went out of reach of the players.  No amount of fairness or favouritism could save the juniors from the opprobrium of at least half the players, so it was an act of kindness by Wordsworth to replace the partial boys with impartial canvas.

We hope the five canvases on Palmer Field see plenty of play after Leave-out.