The Club has its home in the peaceful village of Brightwell cum Sotwell just two miles from Wallingford on Thames in South Oxfordshire. The village today is made up of the two Parishes of Brightwell and Sotwell, which came together as a Civil Parish in 1948.

The main village lies at the foot of the south-facing slope of the Sinodun Hills and Brightwell Barrow rising 70m (231 feet) above the Thames flood plain. Records show that there has been a settlement in Sotwell for 1,000 Years, and it was in the 13th Century that a part of Sotwell was created as a detached area of Brightwell and Slade End.

The first written record of a Brightwell Village Cricket Team playing a match is in the Parson of North Moreton Albert Barff’s Scrapbook of North Moreton (1858 to 1872). The Scrapbook is a collection of manuscripts and Barff writes “We had two games with Brightwell, in the first match Moreton beat, in the second Brightwell beat”. As this is the first written record to be found so far, 1858 is the date adopted as the year the Brightwell Cricket Club was founded.

The Cricket Ground

Brightwell Parish Records show that the Brightwell Cricket Club has played on the Recreational Ground, in Mackney Lane since 1897 when Brightwell Parish purchased the ground from a local farmer Edward Fairthorne. This is evidenced by an Indenture that sets out the conditions for the use of the land.

Below is a précis of the Indenture and the part that refers to the playing of Cricket.

“This Indenture to purchase the Recreational Ground dated the eighth day of October One Hundred and Ninety Seven (1897) between Edward Fairthorne of Slade End in the Parish of Brightwell in the county of Berks of the first part and the Parishes of Brightwell and Sotwell for one hundred pounds raised by subscription is sold to be used as a permanent Recreation Ground for the Parishes of Brightwell and Sotwell in commemoration of the sixtieth year of the reign of Queen Victoria - all rights piece or parcel of meadow land in the Parish of Sotwell in the County of Berks called ‘Great Chequers’ by admeasurement five acres or thereabouts to be used by the trustees and their successors as and solely for a recreation and cricket ground for the inhabitants of the Parishes of Brightwell and Sotwell for ever so long as the game of cricket shall be played in their said Parishes or either of then set apart a sufficient portion of the northern side of the said land for a cricket ground and shall make such byelaws or regulations and shall ensure such portion being preserved during the whole of the year or such part thereof as they shall determine exclusively for the practice of cricket and the playing of cricket matches and shall under the powers aforesaid appoint a committee for carrying out such byelaws or regulations and shall elect as a member thereof the captain for the time being of the Cricket Club.”

As with many village cricket grounds, in the beginning the cutting of the outfield was undertaken by a flock of sheep, which was very effective but resulted in the need to sweep the “Sheep Droppings” off the Square before the pitch could be prepared. The square being rolled by a working horse fitted with padded hooves pulling a roller.

Cricket was suspended during the war years and during the Second World War a Search Light was positioned on the centre of the cricket square. After the cessation of hostilities the club resumed playing with an expanded fixture list as improved motorised transport aided mobility and it became possible to play matches on Sundays.

The Cricket Square originally laid in the 1800’s was moved in the mid 1960’s from its original position - right of centre of the current football pitch to a new location in the centre of the Recreation Ground. This was done to provide enough room to move the Football Pitch from the Southern end of the the Recreational Ground to the current position adjacent to the main entrance.

The Pavilion

The Heart of any club is the pavilion. The first cricket pavilion was a very grand affair with a thatched roof, veranda and white picket fence and would have originally been built towards the end of the 19th century: the fate of the original pavilion is unknown. The second pavilion started life as a railway signal box and served the club well for over 50 years until tragically, it was burnt down on the 25th December 1997.

Temporary Changing rooms and showers were created in the storage shed adjacent to the burnt down pavilion until 2003 when a state of the art facility was built which could be used for by all the community and named the Jubilee Pavilion in commemoration of the Queen Elizabeth the Second’s Jubilee.

The Cricket Club

Over its long history the Brightwell cum Sotwell Cricket Club has predominately played “Village Cricket” considered “Friendly Cricket”. There is a competitive edge to most games balanced by friendly banter; as a result games are devoid of the intense competition experienced in League Cricket.

Games are arranged with as many of the Surrounding Oxfordshire Villages as possible, interspersed with visiting Nomad and the occasional Touring Sides.

In 2008 in order to secure the long term future of the club a Junior Section was formed and the club is proud to boast it has teams at the Under 9, 11 & 13 age groups. It is hoped that in years to come a lot of these children will continue on to represent the senior team.