In 1913 the Central Pavilion was built on Carey’s playing fields. However, for most of its 108 years it was known as the Chinese Pavilion, possibly because the sweeping curvature of its roof was thought to resemble a Chinese temple or palace.
Described by the Headmaster as ‘a modest, but useful, pavilion’, the Chinese Pavilion was built on the nineteen acres of farm land purchased in 1913 by the School Governors from Sherborne Almshouse. The fields, which were levelled by Head Groundsman and Cricket Professional E.J. Freeman (former Essex & Dorset XI) and the grounds staff, were in 1928 named ‘Carey’s’ in memory of Godfrey Mohun Carey (1872-1927), a former pupil of the School (Abbeylands 1886-1891) who went on to play rugby for England, Blackheath and Somerset, and returned to teach at Sherborne School in 1897, becoming Housemaster of Abbey House (1908-1927) until his death on 18 December 1927. For 25 years, Carey was master-in-charge of the School Games and Fields, and in 1923 he founded the Sherborne Pilgrims, a society for encouraging Old Shirburnian sporting activities.
To the south of the Chinese Pavilion lay the area formerly known as the Cabbage Patch (now the site of the Hughie Holmes Astroturf) because vegetables were planted there during the First World War. This area was from 1932 the home ground of the Agriculturalists Cricket Club (the ‘Aggers’), a School House cricket team that played fixtures against local villages. In 1955 Michael Earls-Davis (School House 1935-39) recalled the ‘splendidly rustic’ cricket played on this ground by the Agriculturalists.
A letter written to the editor of The Shirburnian in June 1934 reveals problems experienced by cricketers in the vicinity of the Chinese Pavilion:
Dear Sir,
Already this term three cricket balls have been lost by rolling under the Chinese Pavilion, where they are irretrievable. To put an extra board where the gap is at present, facing the cottages and Westbridge, would easily be within the limits of the School workshop. Could steps be taken to prevent needless waste of cricket balls?
Yours in hope,
Common Sense.
In reply came the following note: ‘The authorities consider this a useful suggestion, except that it is bad to exclude air from your flooring. A wire netting guard will be fitted as soon as possible.’
It is hardly surprising therefore that during the dismantling of the Chinese Pavilion in April 2021 a collection of cricket balls and stumps were discovered underneath the flooring!
As the Chinese philosopher Confucius said so wisely, ‘Study the past, if you would divine the future.’
Rachel Hassall
School Archivist
See also:
- Playing Fields & Pavilions
- Team Photographs
- Shirburnians who have represented their country in sport
Further Reading:
- A.B. Gourlay, A History of Sherborne School (Sherborne, Sawtells Ltd., 1971)
- D.F. Gibbs, A History of (Rugby) Football at Sherborne School (Sherborne School, 1983)
- D.F. Gibbs, A History of Cricket at Sherborne School (Sherborne School, 1980)
- Robert Hands, Rugby Football at Sherborne School, with a foreword by J.A. Tallent (Sherborne School, 1991)
- B. Pickering Pick (ed.), The Sherborne Register 1550-1950 (Winchester, Warren & Son Ltd., 4th ed., 1950)
For further information about the Sherborne School Archives please contact the School Archivist.
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