Heytesbury & Sutton Veny Cricket Club was founded in 2007 following the merger of Heytesbury and Sutton Veny cricket clubs.
About the Club
Heytesbury Cricket Club
Heytesbury CC originally dates back to about 1870, but wasn’t officially formed as a club for many years. The ground, situated at Heytesbury Park, was (before the A36 was bypassed in 1985) inside the grounds of Heytesbury House. In 1933, Siegfried Sassoon purchased Heytesbury House, and through his love of cricket, the club became more of a formal structure. Players in those early days were mostly estate workers who joined Sassoon to play local villages, teams from the army and famously matches against fellow poet Edmund Blunden’s XI. These matches are well documented in One Long and Beautiful Summer by Duncan Hamilton. A re-enactment of this fixture was played in 2014, involving Edmund’s grandson and some of the grandchildren of estate workers from the village.
League cricket came to Heytesbury in the 1980s and with it changing facilities, etc. After the bypass came through the estate, cutting off the House from the rest of the village, the Club like many village teams over the years, fluctuated with success. Records show that Rob Newman (see Roy Newman match) still holds the highest score at Heytesbury, while in the early 1990s the club came close to folding, but was saved by villagers coming together to make sure that the team finished the season. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Club rose from Division 5 to Division 2, but then slipped back as various members left the area. The time had come to look to the future.
At the end of the 2023 season, the Club was given notice to vacate it's historic ground at Heytesbury Park. The Park is currently vacant and all cricketing activities are now centred at Sutton Veny.
2 Villages
1 Club
With cricket in one or both villages in real danger of disappearing, the decision was taken to investigate a merger of equal parties. Both grounds would be kept and used if possible, youth cricket would be encouraged to flourish and facilities would be improved as the funds became available. Top of the list was the demolition of the shed and new pavilion at Sutton Veny.
When Heytesbury was closed at the end of 2023, all cricketing activities moved to Sutton Veny. The dream of returning once again to the Club's spiritual home remains...