Where are Rovers old grounds?

[RevidgeBlue]

24 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

There’s a Rover street on there.

Could that be some sort of clue?

Someone else mentioned that there was a Rover St named after the ground after it wascobbled over which was later renamed Wellfield Rd as it still is today.

Wellfield Rd is a very flat bit but Im guessing it would be slightly further over towards East Lancs Cricket Club than where the pitch was or at least would have marked the boundary of the ground on that side.

[wilsdenrover]

[RevidgeBlue]

4 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

Great find.

More evidence the ground started at one end just the other side of Granville Rd by Leamington Rd Church.

At the other end there's no earthly way it could have stretched any further than where St. Silas's Rd is now.  

 

 

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Take a look again at the four timeline pics in the link below,clearly shows where the ground was,there can be no doubt.

http://englandfootballonline.com/TeamStadia/England/EngLeamington.html

 

Edited Tuesday at 16:38 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[RevidgeBlue]

47 minutes ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Take a look again at the four timeline pics in the link below,clearly shows where the ground was,there can be no doubt.

http://englandfootballonline.com/TeamStadia/England/EngLeamington.html

 

Id say the top picture is clearly wrong and the ground was lower down in what appears to be another empty plot to the bottom right.

The plot in the yellow box has a slope of around 45 degrees!

Edit: to add to this although there seems to be a Club letter with "Wagtail" in the address I think at the time Leamington St finished at the junction with what is now Granville Rd.

Edited Tuesday at 17:28 by RevidgeBlue

[Shirt of two halves]

Wishing the Rovers and fans a happy anniversary on this momentous day in our history.

 Rovers at Leamington Street

The artist clearly focussed his/her attention on the immediate foreground and facilities around the pitch. However at some expense of scale, relative distance and perspective he/she still managed to squeeze into the background of their picture many excellent details and clues that we can cross reference to locate, fairly well, the Leamington Street ground. Depicting the ‘incline’ obviously proved difficult in the space left on his/her paper. I was also intrigued to locate the apparently elevated position of the artist and I think the rear upstairs window of the Leamington pub on Cheltenham Street is a fair contender.

My own ‘graphical’ observations I have included for further consideration and debate although many of us are clearly having a ‘meeting of minds’. I am also fascinated to know how far back towards the Dog Inn the crowd could go and still have a reasonable view of the pitch.

With respect and apologies to Simon Garners 194 quoted reference, most of us locals have dismissed those proposals as totally unrealistic.

Revidge road and surrounding ‘ridge’ area is built on solid rock evidenced by the numerous quarries in the area, the outcrops in Corporation Park (of which I’ve climbed them all) and the inscribed semi circular commemorative stone for the cutting of the road at ‘Mount Pleasant’ in 1826 located just a little west of the former Corporation pub. To excavate the area needed for a level football ground was just not feasible in terms of practicalities and prohibitive costs. Neither would using ‘infill’ to level up be a viable solution. No physical evidence for either of these concepts actually being done are in existence.

The maps I have referenced include those surveyed in 1844-5 and 1892, but the ‘Plan of Land’ dated 1882 is the one that indicates ‘the blank canvas’ available for the Rovers at the outset with the exception of ‘the incline’. By the time the artist produced his/her work terraces were being built in the surrounding vicinity and when the Rovers finally vacated the site the 1892 survey shows that the ground was already being built upon.

[RevidgeBlue]

28 minutes ago, Shirt of two halves said:

Wishing the Rovers and fans a happy anniversary on this momentous day in our history.

 Rovers at Leamington Street

The artist clearly focussed his/her attention on the immediate foreground and facilities around the pitch. However at some expense of scale, relative distance and perspective he/she still managed to squeeze into the background of their picture many excellent details and clues that we can cross reference to locate, fairly well, the Leamington Street ground. Depicting the ‘incline’ obviously proved difficult in the space left on his/her paper. I was also intrigued to locate the apparently elevated position of the artist and I think the rear upstairs window of the Leamington pub on Cheltenham Street is a fair contender.

My own ‘graphical’ observations I have included for further consideration and debate although many of us are clearly having a ‘meeting of minds’. I am also fascinated to know how far back towards the Dog Inn the crowd could go and still have a reasonable view of the pitch.

With respect and apologies to Simon Garners 194 quoted reference, most of us locals have dismissed those proposals as totally unrealistic.

Revidge road and surrounding ‘ridge’ area is built on solid rock evidenced by the numerous quarries in the area, the outcrops in Corporation Park (of which I’ve climbed them all) and the inscribed semi circular commemorative stone for the cutting of the road at ‘Mount Pleasant’ in 1826 located just a little west of the former Corporation pub. To excavate the area needed for a level football ground was just not feasible in terms of practicalities and prohibitive costs. Neither would using ‘infill’ to level up be a viable solution. No physical evidence for either of these concepts actually being done are in existence.

The maps I have referenced include those surveyed in 1844-5 and 1892, but the ‘Plan of Land’ dated 1882 is the one that indicates ‘the blank canvas’ available for the Rovers at the outset with the exception of ‘the incline’. By the time the artist produced his/her work terraces were being built in the surrounding vicinity and when the Rovers finally vacated the site the 1892 survey shows that the ground was already being built upon.

Think you've cracked it there, more or less spot on Id say. 

If the Club did own a substantial plot of land beyond the far side of the pitch stretching up in the direction of the Dog Inn ("the incline") that could have provided a very impressive natural "Kop" for the purposes of watching the game.

The only thing is if you had to enter the ground through gates nr the top of Leamington St/ Granville Rd it would have been a bit of a ball ache getting everyone in and out to and from the far side.

Not really too different to everyone filing into the Riverside at the Blackburn End and walking down to the far end though I dont suppose.

 

[rog of the rovers]

Cracking work @Shirt of two halves

I definitely feel a 'field trip' coming on! Also interesting to see how close it was to Alexandra Meadows, I wonder what the committee/members made of 'the big move' as they relocated just down the road. Staying close isn't such a modern idea after all?

Also sort of removes the idea of the slope if the pitch was further down towards Granville Road?

[TonyM]

When Leamington Road Baptist Church was built, between 1892-1895, their history reports that  "A site was purchased in Leamington Street on land formerly used by Blackburn Rovers Football Club" .

The ground was in the position shown in green on the illustration above. 

This was also reported in the Northern Daily Telegraph in April 1893 when the memorial stone was laid..

Edited 20 hours ago by TonyM

[Shirt of two halves]

From the Borough of Blackburn ‘Plan of Land’ dated 1882, the ‘footprint’ of the Baptist Church together with other land up to the back of the Leamington Pub and the backs of the terraced houses on Cheltenham Street does form part of the total land purchased by the Rovers. I do believe though that as shown in the artists’ sketch it remained outside of the perimeter fence and gates of the actual football ground. Revidge Blue alludes to the need for crowd management and a large spacious area outside the gates as a form of forecourt would have helped facilitate the entry and egress of the supporters. It might also have been used as a horse ‘n’ cart park.

From the Northern Daily Telegraph report in April 1893 I’d also be interested to know where Wellington Road is in the area.

[...]

On 04/11/2025 at 16:36, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Take a look again at the four timeline pics in the link below,clearly shows where the ground was,there can be no doubt.

http://englandfootballonline.com/TeamStadia/England/EngLeamington.html

 

 

[RevidgeBlue]

2 hours ago, ... said:

 

At best part of the area hatched in yellow above would be the "incline".

What's the small picture insert meant to be? I dont recognise it from round Revidge way.

[RevidgeBlue]

7 hours ago, TonyM said:

When Leamington Road Baptist Church was built, between 1892-1895, their history reports that  "A site was purchased in Leamington Street on land formerly used by Blackburn Rovers Football Club" .

The ground was in the position shown in green on the illustration above. 

This was also reported in the Northern Daily Telegraph in April 1893 when the memorial stone was laid..

Strange one that unless it's a mistake.

Wellington Rd today runs between Galligreaves Way and Stancliffe St. 

On the way to Ewood. Completely different area.

[TonyM]

9 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Strange one that unless it's a mistake.

Wellington Rd today runs between Galligreaves Way and Stancliffe St. 

On the way to Ewood. Completely different area.

It isn't unusual to find odd errors in names in old newspapers

It is possible to fit in a football pitch at the top of Lynwood Rd just behind the Dog Inn - but the slope gets steep once you get close to Higher Bank St and Sacred Heart School ( I used to do a paper round there in the 70s), so I think it much less likely than lower down

The are quite a number of references to the Baptist chapel being built on part of the Rovers ground, together with the original name of Wellfield Rd being "Rover St".  I'm sure the ground was on the lower section below St Silas Road which has a much more gentle slope. The OS map for 1895  (surveyed (in 1892) when Rovers had already gone shows where I'm sure it would have been. Building had already started on what would become Lynwood Rd and the surrounding streets.

Sacred Heart School wasn't even built by this time - none of the buildings there could have been part of the ground.

Edited 2 hours ago by TonyM

[wilsdenrover]

12 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Strange one that unless it's a mistake.

Wellington Rd today runs between Galligreaves Way and Stancliffe St. 

On the way to Ewood. Completely different area.

Looking on street view, this church is on the corner of Leamington Road and Granville Road.

Perhaps the reporter was a bit deaf and heard Wellington instead of Leamington…