London's Polo Clubs in 1900: Ranelagh

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GREAT LARGE ROUND BRASS SUNDIAL COMPASS, HATTON GARDEN LONDON
13 May 2012 at 7:13am
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STERLING SILVER SAUCE LADLE, London, 1785
11 May 2012 at 6:46am
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Arthur H. Beavan continued his survey of London Clubs, in Imperial London, published in 1901, with this look at the Ranelagh Polo Club:

The Ranelagh Club is located at Barn Elms, on the Putney side of the river, not very far from Hurlingham, in a park and grounds of 125 acres famous for their flourishing elms of great age.

The house is an historic one, and, circa 1708, was the country headquarters of the Kit-Cat Club.

A new wing has been added, containing a fine drawing-room capable of seating two hundred persons, and in the season it is always crowded with members and their friends.

The walls of this room are divided into panels of bronze-gold, with medallions of pale yellow, bearing upon them alternately the inscriptions "Kit Cat, 1708" and "Ranelagh, 1897."

From a musician's gallery, a string-band plays during dinner.

The features of the old house are the two entrance-halls.

The first, or outer hall, is panelled, and contains some beautiful antique furniture; over the fireplace hangs a fine Lely.

The vista of the inner hall, which has a gallery round it with elaborate iron-work railings, is broken by slender white pillars.

It is as cosy as a drawing-room, being furnished with sofas and chairs covered with old-fashioned chintz. There is ample provision made for polo, there being new additional stables for fifty animals.

The polo-ground is splendid, and the new wooden pavilion is one of the most graceful ever designed.

But golf is also largely played at Ranelagh; the course is one of eighteen holes, and is kept in a perfect state all through the year.

Next: London Recreation in 1900: Lord's Cricket Ground