THE 19th CENTURY:
Among the keen players of Tennis at Petworth at this time was the Reverend Thomas Sockett, Rector of Petworth and tutor to Lord Egremont’s children. On 17th October 1805, he played with the Duc de Berry from Paris, but he “was disappointed and could give him 30”. And on 1st May 1806, probably in London, he “watched a match between Barcellon and Cox, the latter gave B(arcellon) 3 bisques: B(arcellon) won the first two sets which decided the match, it being for the best of three sets; it was well contested.”

In February 1822, the 3rd Earl gave a ball at Petworth House, and a plan in the Petworth House Archives shows the court, which measured 90ft by 30ft, fitted out internally for “an eating room”, i.e. it was used as a supper room for his guests.

The last court to be built at Petworth is of course the present one and this was in 1872. Its position in the Estate Yard is quite close to the original position of the court built so long before in the Carpenters’ Yard. Most of the stones used for its construction came from the earlier court. It is said that while the second Lord Leconfield was lying ill in bed, he could not bear the noise of the balls bouncing on the penthouse.

This period of the 1870s was a period of expansion for English Real Tennis courts, and some might say that it was the decade for the building of classic courts, several still in regular use. At this time, the floor was chocolate brown in colour, the walls were black and the lines on the floor were light green. Experts considered the speed of the court to be mid-way between Lord Wimborne’s slow court at Canford, and the fast Moreton Morrell court owned by Mr. Garland.

1900 TO 1959:
In this new court, a recurring problem was damp upon the floor. The earlier courts had been supported on arches and thus were not prone to damp. In 1903, Joseph Bickley, the well-known builder of Tennis, Rackets and Fives courts, was brought in to remedy the situation. He made recommendations for improvement round the foundations, but in the event, he was only required to stain the floor and paint the lines, for which he was paid £25.

Not surprisingly, damp problems continued, and in 1908/1909, Bickley was called back to tackle the foundations. He suggested laying large hot-water pipes in a trench below the net to help keep the floor dry and to assist with ventilation. The work was not carried out, and the frequent appearance of condensation on the walls, which regularly closed the court to use, was eventually dealt with by the installation of additional court heating. At this time, Bickley also supervised the removal of wing-nets, the installation of skylights, and the redecoration of all the woodwork in the roof area.

The photo was taken by Bedford Lemere, photographers to H.M. The King Edward Vll during Bickley’s renovation work on the Petworth court.

Although the formation of a club was still a good fifty years away, the third Lord Leconfield was very generous in allowing local residents and other visitors to use his court. An informal list of twenty-four or so names existed, and the list included the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, who had his own court at Goodwood House, and Mr J F Marshall, who built his own court at Seacourt.

E.B. Noel wrote in “The Field” dated January 13th 1912 that Lord Leconfield had arranged several top level exhibition matches. In 1910, Fred Covey and Peter Latham played a match on level terms, which Covey won. On 4th October 1911, C. “Punch” Fairs (the Duke of Manchester) and Edward Johnson (Mr. C.T. Garland’s Moreton Morrell) played a match in which Johnson received owe ½ 15 for a bisque, and won easily by 6-2 6-0 6-0.

Noel reported that the court “…was thoroughly done up and improved by the addition of a top light. Petworth provides admirable conditions.” Guests invited by Lord Leconfield to witness this match read like a who’s who in Professional Tennis. Amongst those present were Peter Latham (Sir C.D. Rose’s Hardwicke House), Fred Covey (Lady Wentworth’s Crabbett Park), Alfred White (Hampton Court), James Fennell (Lord’s), Harry Lambert (Lord’s), R.C. E. Dickinson (Prince’s Club Knightsbridge), and Charles J Feldon (Manchester). The match was marked by Arthur Smith.

During the 1st World War, the court was very lightly used; for some period during 1914-1918, the court was used for billeting military personnel including soldiers of the Rifle Brigade and the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. It was noted that the phone wire connecting the Tennis court to the outside world ran from what was then the London, County and Westminster Bank, now Natwest Bank at the top of the square.