TROWBRIDGE

TROWBRIDGE GREYHOUND STADIUM SUMMARY

ADDRESS————————————-

The ex home to Trowbridge Town Football Club.
Frome Road.
Trowbridge
Wiltshire.

POSTCODE———————————-BA14 0ND

LOCATED————————————About half a mile south of Trowbridge town centre just south of the A361.

ORIGINAL SITE—————————–Farm grazing land.

DATE CONSTRUCTED——————–1933

DATE VENUE OPENED——————-1933 for amateur football.
Meaning other sports may have taken place prior to the arrival of Greyhound Racing.

FIRST MEETING—————————–July 3rd 1976, but evidence is found that a series of “eight day” meetings were staged during 1953.
Greyhound Racing only.

LICENSED OR INDEPENDENT———-Independent
All venues covered would have to be licensed with the government, licensed suggested in this section would refer to tracks operating under NGRC Rules.

INSIDE OR OUTSIDE HARE TYPE——Dont know.
Please note that the Electric Hare suggested is only a guidance, and would have been in operation for a certain amount of time at this venue. Although it is not necessarily guaranteed that it was operational all the time, as other types of lure may have been used and updated as time progressed.

DISTANCES———————————–400 and 700 yards.
Please note that most racing venues distances had become varied throughout the years, the ones given above were at once point set and offers only a guidance to the track size.

CIRCUMFERENCE—————————Dont know.
Please note that alterations at most racing venues throughout its existence would see that the circumference of the track would vary, the one shown above offers only a guidance to the track size.

BIG RACE NAMES—————————Nothing found.

STADIUM SHARED WITH——————Trowbridge Town Football Club.

LAST MEETING——————————-Mid 1979 (thought to be May or July).
Greyhound Racing only.

STADIUM CLOSURE DATE—————-1998
Meaning other sports may have taken place after Greyhound Racing had ceased.

STADIUM DEMOLITION——————-1999

BUILT ON SITE——————————-Now covered by Housing on Lamplighter Walk and Abraham Close built during 2004.
In some cases, structure’s that originally covered the venue after the stadium had been demolished, may have been themselves demolished too, so the one described is more likely to be the one which now presently covers the site.

EVIDENCE LEFT TODAY——————-Nothing known of.

FURTHER COMMENTS——————–None

The Wiltshire town of Trowbridge lies approximately eight miles south east of Bath separated by a cluster of limestone hills known as the Mendips. It was around the towns football ground that greyhound racing once took place, a venue found just half a mile south of its town centre just off the busy A361.

The original site had been nothing more than grazing land just south of Frome Road, before Trowbridge Town made it their home in 1933. The football club had seen many years of success at amateur level, and even greyhound racing featured between 1950 and 1953, albeit staging eight meetings per year, but it wasn’t until the latter end of the 1970’s that Trowbridge staged regular greyhound racing. Its opening meeting came on the 3rd of July 1976, but it was a brief spell only lasting for little more than three years before it ceased to operate in July 1979.

Evidence shows that it operated as an independent track, but further information regarding racing such as distances and types of hare have yet to be determined. Once greyhound racing had gone, the Frome Road venue went through a turbulent period, firstly in September 1986 when the main stand was gutted by fire. There efforts for replacing the stand were knocked back, as plans had been passed by the council for a new road that would pass over the west side of the ground. Further problems arose after council officials condemned two thirds of the ground, meaning its crowd capacity had been drastically cut to the bare minimum. The football club limped on, but the future of the Frome Road ground was always in doubt and came as no surprise when the stadium closed during 1998.

The stadium was demolished soon after, but it would take until 2004 before the site was totally covered by new housing. Today, the site of the old ground is found just south of County Way, pinpointed by new housing on Lamplighter Walk and Abraham Close, leaving no evidence at all of a football ground ever being there.