Lily Gower's croquet lawn
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Lily Gower's croquet lawn by Natasha Ceridwen de Chroustchoff as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
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Image: © Natasha Ceridwen de Chroustchoff Taken: 19 Jun 2010
Lilias Gower (1877-1959) was an outstanding croquet player in an age when women rarely had the chance to demonstrate sporting prowess. She was brought up at Castell Malgwyn and learnt to play at the Newcastle Emlyn courts after reading a book on the game. Entering her first major tournament at Budleigh Salterton as a novice in 1898 she caused a sensation by sweeping the board, and beating male players! It is thought that her father, Erasmus Gower, had this full-size croquet lawn made for her after this success. Lily Gower became Lady Champion of England the following year and the next two (1899, 1900, 1901). She married another croquet player, Reginald Beaton, and had two sons but carried on playing top-level croquet all her life, even into her eighties. Read more about this remarkable sportswoman here http://www.mauicroquetclub.org/people/LilyGower/ChampionessOfEngland.htm and here http://www.croquetrecords.com/swfcroquet/SWAN/gower/index.html Incidentally, Lily is not the only major sporting figure to belong to the family - the cricketer David Gower is related.
Image Location
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