This field is where the first recorded county cricket match in Kent was played. It's likely that the cricket match between All Muggleton and Dingley Dell in Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers was inspired by these matches and indeed the spire of the church in the original illustration of the match closely resembles that of nearby St. Mary.

The image became widely circulated in the mid 1990s on the back of the British £10, which featured Charles Dickens. Interestingly the image used on the banknote was a mirror image of the original.

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