Southgate Cricket Club is located in the London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 suburb of Southgate

Southgate, London

Southgate is an area of north London, England, primarily within the London Borough of Enfield, although parts of its western fringes lie within the London Borough of Barnet. It is located around north of Charing Cross. The name is derived from being the south gate to Enfield Chase...

. The club played eight matches ranked as first-class

First-class cricket

First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 between 1863 and 1868. Six of these were against Oxford University

Oxford University Cricket Club

Oxford University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team, representing the University of Oxford. It plays its home games at the University Parks in Oxford, England...

 and the remaining two were against Cambridge University

Cambridge University Cricket Club

Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...

. Though recognised as first-class fixtures, they were all scheduled for only two days. All of them were away fixtures.

Club history

The club was founded in 1855 by the Walker brothers, the famous "Walkers of Southgate"

The Walkers of Southgate

The Walkers of Southgate were a cricketing family who lived at Arnos Grove Estate in Southgate, Middlesex. The family fortune was built through the brewing company Taylor Walker, and the seven brothers were all sent to Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge...

. Its ground, Chapel Fields in Waterfall Road, Southgate, was renamed the Walker Cricket Ground

John Walker's Ground

The Walker Ground, Southgate is a cricket ground in Southgate, London. The ground was first used by the Middlesex 1st XI as long ago as 1859, but had to wait until 1991 for its next county match, and until 1998 to become a regular Middlesex venue...

 in their honour in 1907 and is maintained by the Walker Trust to this day...

Four of the Walker brothers played for the United All-England Eleven

United All-England Eleven

The United All-England Eleven was an English cricket team formed in 1852 by players breaking away from William Clarke's All-England Eleven . Key UEE players included John Wisden and Jemmy Dean, who became joint secretaries of the team....

. Both the United All-England team and the MCC

Marylebone Cricket Club

Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...

 would visit Southgate to take on the brothers and their team, attracting crowds of up to 10,000.

More recently Southgate CC won the national club cricket competition in 1977 (then called the John Haig Trophy) and the Middlesex County Cricket League in 1976 and 1977.

The club today

The club and its ground are very active. The club now plays in the Middlesex County Cricket League

Middlesex County Cricket League

The Middlesex County Cricket League is the top level of competition for recreational club cricket in Middlesex, England, and since 1999 has been a designated ECB Premier League...

. Middlesex CCC

Middlesex County Cricket Club

Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...

, which was also founded by the Walkers, still occasionally plays County Championship

County Championship

The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...

, one day and 20/20 matches at the ground. In 2011, the 1st XI gained promotion to the Middlesex County Cricket League Premier Division, winning the Division Two championship.