Bowling games were popular in both ancient Greece and Rome and its believed that the Romans refined a game played by inhabitants of the Italian Alps region some 2000 years ago, into the game of boccie, a version still enjoyed in Italy and by people of Italian extraction all over the world.
In Boccie, stones were tossed underhand at a target, but stones gradually gave way to wooden balls and then to the all metal ball used. From the unusual delivery and metal ball used, it?s not difficult to make the connection with the popular French game of boule, and there can be little doubt that the Romans introduced this variation. The spread of bowling games to the rest of Europe was due in no small part to the Romans urge for territorial acquisition and there is evidence to suggest that this dissemination took place prior to the 10th century as, by then, forms of bowls were popular in Germany and France.
Although the first stirrings of the game in Britain are believed to date from around the time of the Norman Conquest, one of the earliest references is to be found in the works of William Fitzstephen, a close friend of Thomas Becket and a valuable obsever of the manners of his age. In the prologue to his biography of the martyr published in 1174 AD, Fitstephen tells how the young men of the day would spend their holidays at the bow, running, leaping and throwing of stones, The work however was written in Latin and his last activity appears as jactus lapidum, a phrase which has various translations. It is possible to deduce however, whether ones chooses casting, putting or throwing the stones, that the sport was more a feat of sheer strength rather than one of skill and that it had very little in common with the game we play today.
