A Game With
Ancient Roots
Lawn bowling — known formally as "Bowls" — is one of the world's oldest precision sports, tracing its origins to medieval England and spreading across the Commonwealth for centuries before taking root in Canada.
Origins in Medieval England
Lawn bowling has been played in England since at least the 13th century. Even King Henry VIII was known to enjoy the game. Scotland later codified the rules in the 1800s and is considered the home of the modern sport as we know it today.
Arrives in Canada
Lawn bowling was brought to Canada by British garrison officers. The first bowling green in Canada was established at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. By 1888, a tournament in Toronto drew seven clubs, and the game spread quickly across Ontario and the rest of the country.
The Dominion Tournament
The Dominion Lawn Bowling Tournament was inaugurated, establishing lawn bowling as a nationally organized sport in Canada and connecting clubs from coast to coast through competition.
The Aylmer Club is Founded
The Aylmer Lawn Bowling Club is established at the corner of Centre & Pine Streets. Historical records from the Elgin County Archives confirm the club's early presence in Aylmer, with postcards from the 1920s documenting men bowling on the green. By the early 1920s, the club was competing in regional tournaments alongside clubs from St. Thomas, Ingersoll, Strathroy, and London.
National Organization Formed
The Dominion Lawn Bowling Association — later Bowls Canada Boulingrin — was founded, creating a national governing body that connected local clubs to provincial and national competition. The Aylmer club became part of a growing network of organized clubs across Ontario.
Our 125th Season
2026 marks the Aylmer Lawn Bowling Club's 125th season on the green. We remain a proud member of the Ontario Lawn Bowls Association (OLBA), and our green at Centre & Pine continues to welcome new and returning players every summer.
Member of the Ontario Lawn Bowls Association (OLBA)
The Aylmer Lawn Bowling Club is a registered member of the OLBA, connecting us to a province-wide network of clubs, inter-club competitions, and tournaments. We play under rules governed by the OLBA, which follows national standards set by Bowls Canada Boulingrin and the international Laws of the Sport established by World Bowls.
Land Acknowledgement
The Aylmer Lawn Bowling Club respectfully acknowledges that we gather and play on the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, and Neutral (Attawandaron) peoples. This land is covered by the Upper Canada Treaties. We recognize the enduring presence of Indigenous peoples on this land, and are grateful to be able to come together here in community and in sport.
Our Home at
Centre & Pine
Our bowling green sits at the corner of Centre and Pine Streets in Aylmer — a precisely levelled, manicured grass surface that has been the heart of the club since 1901. A regulation outdoor bowling green is large and rectangular, maintained to allow true and consistent play on natural grass.
The green is divided into parallel playing strips called rinks. Multiple games run simultaneously, with each rink defined by boundary markers at its edges.
Playing on natural grass means conditions vary from evening to evening — the speed of the green shifts with weather, temperature, and grass length. Learning to read the green is one of the quietly satisfying skills the game rewards over time.
The Green at a Glance
Maintained to regulation standards — flat, consistent, and carefully mown so every bowl rolls true.
We play on a real grass outdoor green — the traditional surface for which lawn bowling was designed.
The green is divided into parallel rinks — the playing strips where each game takes place. Multiple games run at the same time, each on its own rink.
Corner of Centre & Pine Streets — right in the heart of town.
"Lawn bowls is a game of skill, concentration, patience, fitness and luck — in that order."
— A principle of lawn bowls etiquette