The Stonehenge Chubb Centenary Day July 8th 2018

The Stonehenge Chubb Centenary Day, at Shrewton near Stonehenge, included several cricket matches between teams of archaeologists and Shrewton village. Cecil Chubb, born at Shrewton and a cricketer for the village, bought Stonehenge at auction in 1915 and gifted the monument to the nation in 1918. The cricket matches were played in good spirit with some of the archaeologists dressing for the period.

In a unique community-hosted cricket tournament, Shrewton Cricket Club took on and beat teams of archaeologists, heritage professionals, and the Prehistoric Society (dressed as Suffragettes). Adorned with badges from the fields of archaeology and heritage, the trophy was a modern take on the ‘good hat’ awarded as the prize at the earliest known cricket tournament held at Stonehenge in 1781.

Archaeological Surveys director David Sabin was fortunate enough to be involved with an early morning photo shoot at Stonehenge prior to the event and represented Calne Cricket Club (by borrowing daughter Rowan's cap!) - "I'm not a fan of being photographed, but I can put up with it for a chance to get in amongst the stones. Of course there's not much doubt that early man must have modelled the trilithons on wickets!"