A Rink played by members of The Alexandra Palace Bowling Club.

The history of the game of bowls, which is one of the oldest of outdoor pastimes, has been a curiously irregular one. Although the game first became popular in the twelfth or thirteenth century, it was dealt with in several enactments in 1511, in which Henry VIII caused it to be declared illegal. From 1541 to 1845 a law was enforced prohibiting the working classes from playing bowls save at Christmas, and then only in the houses and the presence of their masters. Nevertheless, Henry VIII had bowling alleys constructed for his own amusement at Whitehall Palace! Biased bowls came into use in the sixteenth century. Today bowling has an extremely wide following in England, Scotland, Australia, the United States, and many other countries.