In Scotland, at the time the court was built, tennis was known by the Scots word caich. A tennis court was called a caichpule - derived from Flemish/Dutch for "game of chases".
The court at Falkland is a jeu quarré, rather than the later and more common, jeu à dedans. This means the court lacks a dedans penthouse. It also lacks a tambour. Instead it has an ais (or stave) and four lunes on the service side - see images . Sensibly there actually are doors at the chase the door lines . The court is also unusual, especially considering the Scottish weather, in that it lacks a roof.
Julian Marshall, author of the Annals of Tennis
(1878), visited the court in 1892, and Keeper of the Palace, Lord Bute,
stated in his diary:
"At St Petersburg and at Vienna quarré courts
existed till recently, and Mr Julian Marshall tells me he has a copy of
the rules used at a court in Geneva which state that a stroke in la
lune counts a
game" (from the
The Royal Game ). De Manevieux in his book
of 1783 also describes how, for a quarré court in Paris, a shot
through a lune wins the
whole game outright (see Lord Aberdare's The Willis Faber Book of
Tennis
& Rackets (1998), pp 62-3). Current rules on the Falkland court
count a shot through the lune as merely a point for the hazard side
player.
A potted history of the court
| Date | Event | Details |
| 1539 | Work began on the court for King James V | Records kept by John Scrymgeour. Quarriers first paid from 12 April 1539. |
| 1541 | Court completed after September | Masons W. & A. Allerdice paid £70 for all their building work. Carpenters under Richard Stewart built the penthouses and were finally paid on 3 September 1541. |
| 1542 | In December King James V died at Falkland Palace | Did he ever play on it? |
| 1543-1582 | Court rarely used | Under Mary Queen of the Scots |
| 1583 | Penthouses rebuilt | For the young King James VI |
| 1583- 1603 | Court used regularly when King visited | |
| 1603 | King James VI moved to London | Union of the Crowns |
| 1603-1628 | Court rarely used | |
| 1629 | Major repairs made to floor | Ordered by King Charles I |
| 1629-1892 | No records of the court or its use | |
| 1892 | Visit to the court by Julian Marshall (author of Annals of Tennis, 1878), reported: length of court 106 feet, breadth 42 feet 10 inches, height of wall above the present ground level 10 foot 4 inches and width of penthouse 9 foot 3 inches. | Entry in the diary of Lord Bute (Keeper of
the Palace, John Patrick Crichton Stuart, the Third Marquess of Bute).
Marshall gives detailed advice about its restoration suggesting putting
wooden shutters in the lunes and erecting posts with wire netting
around the top to prevent stray balls from damaging the greenhouses. He
also suggested walls be cemented with coloured Portland cement and
staining the floor black. He concluded: "If the court is fitted up in
this way, I think a very good game could be played here, though one
differing in many respects from tennis as usually played." |
| 1896 | Restoration of the court complete in June | However only limited use of the court was made because Lord Bute and his son Ninian preferred lawn tennis. |
| 1896-? | Sir Edward Grey (Amateur Champion) played on
the
court. |
It is possible
that students & staff from St Andrews University also played as
Lord Bute was Rector. There were many tourists who visited the court at this time. |
| 1952 | Restoration work started under Michael Crichton Stuart (Keeper of the Palace) | National Trust for Scotland became Deputy Keepers of the Palace. Work funded by Michael Crichton Stuart's endowment and grants from the Pilgrim Trust and the National Trust's Garden Fund. |
| 1958 |
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth
II watched a game of tennis on the newly restored court (350 years
since the last visit of a reigning monarch). |
|
| 1975 | Formation of the Falkland Palace Real Tennis Club | |
| 1980 | Penthouses replaced | |
| 1989 | Celebration of 450th anniversary | Tournament and publication of The Royal Game |
| 1998 |
August: repairs made to
penthouses. |
|
| 2002 |
May - June: masonry works
to the high walls, lifting defective slabs at the hazard end, and joinery
work. August: painting. |
|
| 2005 |
National Trust for Scotland
promised to produce a lease agreement to formalise the relationship
between players' Club and the Trust. |
In order to enter into such
a
lease agreement the Club will need to be legally incorporated with a
constitution. |
| 2007 |
28
June: restriction of playing times to when there are no members of the
visiting public in the grounds (10am - 5.30pm) in the summer months. |
On 17
June a small child was struck on the shoulder by a ball hit over the
wall out of the court. The child was not seriously hurt but her
mother was sufficiently upset to make a complaint to the National Trust
for Scotland, Deputy Keepers of Falkand Palace. Following a Health
& Safety
inspector's visit the restriction on playing times was enforced. |
| 2008 |
Service penthouse develops
holes, showing advanced rot in timbers. A draft constitution of the Club was drawn up. |
A draft constitution of the
Club was drawn up to allow a lease agreement with the National Trust
for Scotland (this agreement is yet to be offered by the Trust since
their first suggestion of it in 2005). |
| 2009 |
Service penthouse lets
balls through ("chase last gallery"). |
Wooden supports were placed above the battery wall to support the edge of the penthouse. |
| 2010 |
September 6 - ? repair work
done. |
To replace all the penthouses and do some repairs to internal rendering. |
Details about the book The Royal Game edited by Lance Butler & Peter Wordie, with chapters on the court at Falkland and tennis in Scotland.