On 14 December 1810 Thomas Lord signed the lease on a seven-acre site on St John's Wood Road that would, four years later, become the third and final Lord's Cricket Ground. The lease — for an initial 80 years from the Eyre Estate — was negotiated as insurance against the increasingly likely loss of the Middle Ground at North Bank. The site Lord secured in December 1810 has hosted cricket continuously ever since.
Lord had been operating cricket grounds in north London since 1787. The St John's Wood lease was his third site and turned out to be permanent.
Lord had been worried since 1809 about the long-term security of the North Bank Middle Ground. The Regent's Canal scheme, then under parliamentary discussion, threatened compulsory purchase. He began searching for a third site early in 1810. The St John's Wood Road land — then on the rural northern edge of London — was offered to him by the Eyre Estate at a favourable rent. The lease was signed on 14 December 1810. Lord did not move at once: he waited until the Middle Ground was actually lost in 1813, then transferred turf and pavilion fittings to the new ground, which opened in June 1814.
1809
Concerns rise over the Middle Ground's future
Spring 1810
Lord begins search for a third site
14 Dec 1810
St John's Wood lease signed
22 Jun 1814
Ground opens
The St John's Wood ground opened on 22 June 1814 with an MCC v Hertfordshire fixture. The Eyre Estate lease has been renewed and extended; the ground remains MCC's home.
The most consequential property transaction in cricket's history — the moment the present Lord's became inevitable.
Modern Lord's — the 'home of cricket' — exists because of Lord's December 1810 lease. The site has been continuously used for cricket for over 210 years.
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1811-07-04
The 1811 Lord's season was the leanest of the Middle Ground years. With the Napoleonic blockade at its tightest, willow scarce, professionals diverted to militia service and the betting public's purses thin, only fourteen major matches were played at Lord's all summer. The 1811 season is the clearest measure of cricket's wartime contraction.
Officers vs Civilians
1812-12-15
By the close of 1812 cricket was being played regularly in both Madras and Bombay — the earliest documented fixtures in either Presidency. Garrison officers and civilian East India Company servants ran the matches; the Madras Gazette and Bombay Courier preserved the earliest scoresheets. The Calcutta game (documented 1804) had been joined by all three Presidency capitals.
Kent vs MCC
1813-09-09
On 9-10 September 1813 Kent played the MCC at the Vine, Sevenoaks — the first post-war major match at the historic Kent ground and the start of the Vine's revival as a regular major venue. The Vine had hosted little major cricket since 1808; the September 1813 fixture marked its return to the front rank.