Just as a certain W.G. Grace was gaining a reputation as a decent all-rounder, cricket in Gresford was being born.
The first game of cricket recorded in the village was in 1870, at The Elms, on Vicarage Lane – the home of the well-to-do Chilton family. Beyond that bare detail, little else is known about those tentative first steps.
‘The early history is quite patchy, but we do know that cricket was being played on our old ground on the High Street prior to 1900, and that league cricket was being played before the First World War,’ said John Bell. ‘We also know the club played away matches at Northop and Mold in the 1890s’ with teams fro Liverpool and the Wirral visiting Gresford (how did they travel?)
The oldest known documents relating to the club date from 1913, in the shape of handwritten minute books. The earliest photograph shows a game being played in fancy dress on the High Street ground in the 1910s.’
There is a more detailed record from the post-war period onwards.
‘We have are pictures of double-decker bus trips from Gresford to places such as Tranmere and Liverpool,’ said John.
‘There were other cricket fields around the village - at Gresford Colliery and at Gresford Park, which is where the bungalows are now.
‘Cricket was also played at Horsley Hall (?), in the period during the Second World War when it was commandeered by the Army.,’ said John. ‘My dad’s uncle was a butcher on the High Street, and he used to send meat to the camp during the war.’
Denbighshire games were being played in the village was in the 1940`s and 50s, Gresford also entered and won the Boughton Hall Cup.

GRESFORD CRICKET CLUB – A TIMELINE
1870 – First record of cricket being played in Gresford.
1890s – Cricket was being played on the High Street ground.
1913 – Earliest known Gresford CC minute book.
1950s – Gresford CC hosts its first Denbighshire match, in the Boughton Hall Cup.
1979 – Gresford 1st and 2nd XIs are languishing in the bottom division of the North Wales League. The club is perilously close to folding.
19(?) – A group including Bersham miners and Gresford CC members join forces to save the club.
1979 to 1982 – The First XI is promoted three times in four years.
1980-something – The Brick is born!
1985 – First XI wins the North Wales League Division One title.
1989 – Another Division One title for Gresford.
1990 (?) – The cricket pavilion and the football and tennis changing rooms burn down after a water heater catches fire.
1991 to 1994 – Plans are developed for the new ground on Clappers Lane.
1996 – In September, the final match is played at the High Street ground, against Corwen. RESULT?
1997 – In May, Gresford play Shotton 2nd XI in the first league game at Clappers Lane. RESULT?
1998 – The new changing rooms are opened in August.
......and much, much more