... Journal Entry
We were sequestered in The Thomas Lord pub in West Meon having a spot of lunch and reading its history and how it was named after the founder of Lords Cricket Ground back in 1814. It was only later that afternoon whilst taking photos in St John's Church graveyard we discovered his other connection with the village.
It was only later we learned more of his story. Thomas Lord (23 November 1755 – 13 January 1832) was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1787 to 1802. Overall, he made 90 known appearances in first-class cricket and was mostly associated with Middlesex and with Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) as a ground staff bowler. He is best remembered as the founder of Lord's Cricket Ground.
Lord lived in St John's Wood, adjacent to his cricket ground, until 1830 when he retired to West Meon in Hampshire, where he died in 1832 and was buried in the local churchyard. Below is a picture of the rather plain tombstone for such a famous cricketer, a little sad really.
It was a freezing (literally), bleak, winter's afternoon in the churchyard which did not encourage staying long, so a few grab shots were enough as fingers and toes quickly started to numb. The bright sunshine belied just how cold it was.
Pretty village, nice pub, interesting church. All photographs were made on Kodak Portra 800 using a Nikon F80D with Nikon AF-D Nikkor 20mm f2.8 and 50mm f1.4 lenses.