The game of bowls, it seems, was played in Salisbury over 200 years ago and in the year 1751, there were at least three bowling greens in the city.

One was situated in the Palace grounds, in the Close, between the Chapter House and the Bishop’s Palace, and was, no doubt played on by the Bishop and his clergy. A second green was situated in Crane Street, in an area once known as Bowling Green Nursery – that green would have probably have been a private one. The third green was situated at the corner of Castle Street and Wyndham Road.

An advertisement in the Salisbury Journal of 1775 read as follows: “Salisbury. This day will be opened the Bowling Green above Castle Gate, where those gentlemen who choose to encourage so genteel an amusement will meet with obliging behaviour and good accommodation by their obedient humble servant, Thomas Biddlecombe. Also good beer and ale.”

The game seemed to have been in full swing until about 1800; then it faded out. It was Michael Harding, a man living in Wain-a-long-Road, who purchased a box of lawn bowls and invited a few friends to play the game on his lawns.

The outcome of those games was that the city council laid a three-rink green at the Victoria Park. That was opened on Saturday evening, July 12, 1912, and a match was played by players representing the city council and the citizens. The corporation won 30 points to 11.

Salisbury Bowling Club website states that in 1913, the existing players with a few enthusiasts, formed the new Salisbury Bowling Club, and in 1941 the club affiliated to the Wiltshire County Bowling Association, which had been formed the year before.

It was eventually decided in 1936 that the club should have their own green and a site was purchased in Devonshire Road, where a green and a pavilion were constructed.