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Balls Farm Road, Alphington, Exeter EX2 9JA

The Devon city of Exeter may have hosted two established Greyhound Racing venues in the past, with the NGRC run track at The County Ground, which opened in 1930, and another one at Marsh Barton which opened for business two years later.

However, it is during the early months of 1928 that Exeter first witnessed the sport with a temporary venture that took place at Oak Marsh. Local newspapers tell us that Oak Marsh staged its first meeting on the 20th of July 1928, in a meadow close to Oak Marsh Farm.

Little is known regarding how things were run or how long it lasted, but it seems that the venture was certainly a temporary track. The venue was found in a district known as Alphington, an area located one mile southwest of Exeter city centre.

Today the area around Alphington is totally unrecognisable from those pioneering days, but the land that once surrounded Oak Marsh Farm has not changed all that much. Oak Marsh Farm is now known as The Rosary, which is the home to The Oaklands Riding School, and is found along Ball Farm Road, just West of the A377 trunk road.

This press cutting is dated July 21st 1928.