Edgbaston Priory

Edgbaston Priory Club · Birmingham

Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom · Members club

World's Greatest Grass Clubs: Top 100 No. 18, Innovative Grass Clubs Verified October 2026

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No. 18, Innovative Grass Clubs

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A city club near the lawn where the game was first played in Birmingham.

Location: Edgbaston, Birmingham
Roots: Priory Lawn Tennis Club, 1875; merged with Edgbaston Cricket and LTC in 1964
On the grass: The Birmingham grass tournament since 1982; the Midland Counties Championships from 1881
Show court: The Ann Jones Centre Court, opened 2013
Emblem: A phoenix, after the clubhouse fire of 1963
Grass courts: 8
Other courts: 6 hard, 2 clay, 7 artificial grass, 8 indoor hard
Guest play: Members and their guests
Season: Members
Address: Sir Harrys Road, Birmingham, West Midlands, B15 2UZ, United Kingdom

Why it is special

Lawn tennis in Birmingham begins a short walk away, in Ampton Road, where Harry Gem and Augurio Perera played an early form of the game on a croquet lawn. Maud Watson, the first Wimbledon ladies’ champion in 1884, was a member of one of the clubs that became Edgbaston Priory, and the trophy she brought home in 1885 is still presented to the Birmingham singles champion.

Dorothy Round, Wimbledon champion in 1934 and 1937, won the club’s Whitsun tournament five times. A fire destroyed the Priory clubhouse in 1963 and led to the merger that formed the present club; its emblem is a phoenix.

In 1982 Ann Jones, the 1969 Wimbledon champion, brought a women’s grass tournament to the club, and the centre court that opened in 2013 bears her name. Pam Shriver won it four years running. Edgbaston Priory is the grass court in an industrial city, with roots as old as the game itself.

Champions here, 2015 to 2024

Year	Women's singles
2015	Angelique Kerber
2016	Madison Keys
2017	Petra Kvitová
2018	Petra Kvitová
2019	Ashleigh Barty
2020	Not held
2021	Ons Jabeur
2022	Beatriz Haddad Maia
2023	Jeļena Ostapenko
2024	Yulia Putintseva

Every champion on the roll: Birmingham

About the club

Founded in 1875, Edgbaston Priory Club occupies 14 acres of private grounds in Birmingham with 31 tennis courts. Outdoors there are 8 grass courts, including a dedicated centre court, alongside 6 hard courts, 2 clay courts and 7 artificial grass courts. The grass closes over winter, when 8 indoor hard courts keep play going.

The club holds LTA High Performance Centre designation and runs an LTA Regional Player Development Centre for juniors. It stages the Birmingham Open, an ATP and WTA grass tournament played in the run up to Wimbledon. Court use is for members, of whom the club counts around 3,000 active, with padel, squash, pickleball and fitness facilities also on site.