There is no doubt that the game of Lawn Bowls has been around for some time. There is a manuscript in the Royal Library at Windsor which contains a drawing representing two persons playing Bowls, but aiming at a cone, instead of a jack from the 13th Century. There is a Bowling green in Southhampton called the 'Southhampton Old Bowling green' which has been used since 1299, which is reputed to be the oldest surviving bowling green in the world.
It is suggested that Sir Francis Drake was playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe when the Spanish decided to invade, and further that he decided that finishing the game was more important than leaving immediately to defeat the Spanish Armada. It would obviously have thus been an Inter-Club League Match, and probably critical in his Club's position in the League.
No-one is suggesting that Lawn Bowls in the Upper Waveney area started that early, or that we take our Bowls quite so seriously, but there are currently in existance many Bowls Clubs in the Waveney area for the enjoyment of Residents and Visitors alike.
"Bowls - a game played by young men and women who continue to play it as they get older"
