Historians suggest the game made its way across Europe with Julius Caesar's centurions. At that time, and still today among Italians, the game was known as "bocce". By the 13th Century, "bowls", was entrenched in the British Isles. At the turn of the century, 1299 AD, the Southhampton Old Bowling Green Club was organized in England. The club remains active today, the oldest of record in the world.

Global politics threatened the game for a time. In the 14th Century, it was banned for commoners in France and England because archery, essential for defense, was losing popularity. The Scottish were having none of it. In Scotland the game continued uninterrupted, a favorite among even such legendary notables as Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns. In Glasgow today 200 public bowling greens are in operation, including some enclosed greens for winter play.

One famous story, and it has some credence, is that Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh were in the middle of a game when word reached them of the impending assault of the Spanish Armada. The story goes that Sir Francis insisted on finishing the game before setting sail to engage the Spanish; noble dedication, indeed. In fact, he had to wait for the incoming tide to peak before he could get his ship out of the harbor anyway.

The American Revolution and virulent anti-British feeling in the Colonies stifled the game for nearly a century. Luckily, the Canadians kept it alive, spreading it from coast to coast.

New Jersey gets credit for lawn bowling's resurrection in the United States, when a small private club was started in 1879. By 1899 the game had reached the Pacific.

Rules of the game