Queen’s Park tops the world!

And in a new book written by enthusiast Hugh Hornby, he reveals that Queen’s Park has the highest concentration of bowling clubs in the world.

But it probably shouldn’t be a huge surprise as the Scots really brought the game to where it is today.

Thomas Taylor, a Scottish family business for 196 years made and patented a machine for shaping bowls accurately, and in that same year introduced the world’s first testing table for bias of bowls.

“Bowls is obviously a very old sport and that led people, particularly in the Victorian era, to trace its roots all the way back to the Norman Conquests and the medieval period.” said Hornby.

Commenting further he said: “It was well established by the time Shakespeare was around. Francis Drake famously played around Plymouth Hoe when the Armada sailed up the channel. It’s still older than cricket, football and rugby.”

Our ancestors certainly had what he calls “a real enthusiasm for the game”. He added: “It proliferated between 1820 and 1880. As Glasgow expanded through the west end and then south, that’s where the middle class wanted their bowling greens.

“In and around Queen’s Park has the highest concentration of bowling clubs in the world. Some are gone but there are still a large number left.”