Millennium Project
Rob Forsyth
The club was first founded in 1835 according to this report of a match against Banbury (also newly formed) in The Oxford Chronicle of 23 July 1836.(click on this and subsequent images to enlarge) in which Deddington lost to Banbury who were wearing 'very odd hats' according to 'One of Deddington' in his letter to The Editor dated 19 July. The Chronicle published three other match reports in 1836:
5 August Saw a return match played against Banbury which Deddington won this time. The 2nd 11's played a friendly afterwards which Deddington lost and all parties enjoyed a convivial dinner at The White Horse Inn where the landlord '...provided (at a very low price) such an entertainment as must have satisfied an alderman or an epicure'. There was also a lot of singing it appears!
19 August An away match against Brackley who won by 9 wickets. Thanks to Brackley CC we have the score card for the match.
30 August ...Dedddington soundly won the return match by an innings and 22 runs
The club was also regularly mentioned in
the Reverend Cotton Risley's diaries:
"1837: I went to the Castle to look at the Cricket Ground.
"25 August 1840: A cricket match took place in the
Castle today between Deddington & Banbury - the Banbury people were
the winners – by a very considerable number of runs. The two parties
dined together at the King's Arms afterwardsEditor's note - these are three contemporary extracts from the North Oxfordshire Monthly Times (NOMT)...
"15 May 1851: Sent a note to Mr. Sandon about our boys and the Cricket Club – Holford* to be a patron, the others subscribers. 1850-59 An article by David French contains other newspaper references to the DCC in this period, including a 'rabid' dog running onto the pitch. "20 August 1860: The Dowager LDY Cartwright, & Lady Elizabeth, came on the Cricket Ground this afternoon. |
1871 A strong patron of the club - which appears to have been called Deddington United CC - was Henry Dean of Earls Farm as this extract from a contemporary newspaper cutting shows....
 ...so much so that his
niece Annie Bull's diary for 22 March 1872 records that he was presented with a silver cup; this was also fully reported in another newspaper cutting (r) |  |
1870 Annual Accounts
1876 Annual Accounts
1878-86 George Coggin's scrapbooks are archived in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. They contain numerous press cuttings about the Club in this period. It clearly had a very active fixture list.
6 September 1888 In a match played against Free Foresters Batting & bowling details were published in Cricket: A Weekly Record of the game. No doubt other matches were similarly recorded.
13 October 1888 At the annual club supper the Rev. Standage proposed that they form a football club. The idea was enthusiastically received and a first meeting was held on 26 October. For more details and to read the newspaper cuttings go to Deddington Football Club
July 1916 Walter Hancox, who had been Captain of Cricket for many years, is reported killed in action. His two brothers were also killed - see the story of the Hancox Family
Present-day Club
 | ... was re-formed in the mid-1980s by a group of like-minded cricketers then playing for a variety of clubs in surrounding Oxfordshire villages. They felt that Deddington was big enough to support a cricket club. The original pitch was the old Windmill school pitch and, from humble beginnings, the club steadily grew. By the early 1990s the pitch had been moved to a new playing field (due to house building on the original site) and Deddington CC established itself in the Senior section of the Oxfordshire Cricket Association. |
Back row l to r: Graham Heaven, Chris Buckingham, Alan Collins, James Ransom, Mark Ryland
Front row l to r: Stu Leece, Adrian Bletchly, John Stiff, Andy Stiff,Terry Clinch, Nick Ryland
The present day club website (2021) can be found HERE
Acknowledgements
Buffy Heywood (formerly of The Manor House) researched Rev. Cotton Risley's diaries following an enquiry from Leamington Cricket Club about a match between their team and Deddington.
John Plumbe for the 1836 match reports
Tommy Bull for the 1871/72 & 1888 newspaper articles which refer to his ancestors Annie Bull and Henry Dean.
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