MCC Museum

The MCC Museum is the world's oldest sporting museum and, to this day, it remains both world-class and world-famous.

While it contains a wide range of exhibits, it is best-known for being the home of The Ashes.

Created in 1883, the Ashes urn was given to the England cricket captain, the Hon Ivo Bligh, after his side had triumphed against Australia in the 1882-83 series. On his death, in 1927, his widow, who had helped to create The Ashes in the first place, bequeathed the urn to MCC. Since then, the tiny trophy has remained on display at Lord's, where it is seen by the tens of thousands of people who visit the Museum each year.

Other popular attractions include the stuffed sparrow that was 'bowled out' by Jehangir Khan in 1936, and the copy of Wisden that helped to sustain EW 'Jim' Swanton throughout his captivity, in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, during the Second World War.

The Museum's other displays include cricket kit used by some of the greatest players of all time - such as Victor Trumper, Jack Hobbs, Don Bradman and Shane Warne.

The life and achievements of WG Grace - perhaps the most famous cricketer of all - also receive appropriate recognition, with the Museum displaying portraits, busts and other memorabilia associated with the incomparable 'W.G.'

Many such items date back to the 19th century; indeed, the Museum benefits from the fact that MCC has been collecting cricketing artefacts since 1864.

Over 140 years later, MCC continues to enhance its collection of historic and contemporary items. For example, it commissions both young and established artists to add to its displays of cricket-related paintings - with some of the most recent additions being works by Fanny Rush and Karen Neale. In addition, the Museum often displays a selection of the shots taken by the MCC Young Cricket Photographers, such as 2003's appointee Sarah Williams and Anthony Devlin (2004).

As well as housing static displays, the MCC Museum includes the Brian Johnston Memorial Theatre, which enables visitors to see footage of some of the greatest performances in cricket's long and illustrious history.

A visit to the MCC Museum is included in Tours of Lord's. (For details, please e-mail tours@mcc.org.uk or 'phone 020 7616 8595.)

Alternatively, it can be visited on matchdays by ticket-holding spectators. (Admission costs £3.00 for adults, and £1.00 for concessions.)