Darlington South Park Bowls Club is over 117 years old, the club brags of a huge history which has seen great bowling and has spread itself wide across Durham, Teesside and Yorkshire.

Bowls in Darlington was played on a green at the back of a pub for many years, they say it was either the Black Swan or the Talbot Inn on Post House Wynd. In 1894 there was a massive Powder explosion in Darlington, Joseph Forestall Smythe had taken over a gunmakers owned by The Brebners (now Binns). He bragged at being the biggest gun cartridge store around and kept thousands and powder filled cartridges, he also had departments for croquet and bowls. The cartridges all exploded October 9th 1894 at 11.45am while Mr Smythe was on a train to Stockton. The explosion destroyed buildings, killed several people. There was glass everywhere and this was where bowls changed its face in Darlington forever.