About Lawn Bowls

Bowls historians believe that the game developed from the Egyptians. One of their pastimes was to play skittles with round stones. This has been determined based on artifacts found in tombs dating circa 5,000 B.C. The sport spread across the world and took a variety of forms, Bocce (Italian), Bolla (Saxon), Bolle (Danish), Boules (French) and Ula Miaka (Polynesian). The sport of lawn bowls is the forerunner of curling, a tremendously popular winter game played in northern countries on ice.

The oldest lawn bowls site still played on is in Southampton, England. Records show that the green has been in operation since 1299 A.D. During the reign of Richard II bowls were referred to as “gettre de pere” or “jetter de pierre,” and describes throwing a stone, probably as round as possible. In the early 15th century bowls were made of hardwoods and, after the 16th century discovery of Santo Domingo, of lignum vitae, a very dense wood.

It is believed that the “bias” was introduced inadvertently in 1522 by the Duke of Suffolk. Apparently, his bowl split in two after striking other bowls and he took a knob off of a stairway banister post for a replacement. The flat side of the knob caused it to roll with a bias and he experimented by curving his bowl around others. The word spread and bias bowls gradually came into use.

Certainly the most famous story in lawn bowls is about Sir Francis Drake and the Spanish Armada. On July 19, 1588, Drake was involved in a game at Plymouth when he was notified that the Spanish Armada had been sighted. The tale says his response was, “There is plenty of time to win the game and thrash the Spaniards too.” He then proceeded to finish his match and the British Navy soundly defeated the Armada. There is a lot of controversy as to whether this event actually took place.