Monument record MDR5371 - Recreation/Football Ground (site of), Chesterfield

The Recreation Ground at Chesterfield was initially used for a variety of sports, including football and cricket, from at least 1870. It became home to Chesterfield Football Club in 1884. The existing main (east) stand was built in 1936. (1) Saltergate Recreation Ground is the site of one of the oldest football grounds in Britain, with the first recorded game taking place there on November 4 1871, against Rotherham. No structures are likely to have existed at that time. The main stand was constructed in 1936 and the general layout of the ground, with its double height stand at one end, and originally open areas of terracing on the other sides of the pitch, can be attributed to Archibald Leitch. Leitch was a respected engineer from Glasgow who pioneered the structural development of large covered stands, principally for football grounds. The Saltergate example is one of his later commissions. The football pitch was the last league ground in England to have floodlights installed in 1967. (2) A programme of historic building recording was carried out prior to demolition of the football ground and redevelopment of the site. The two storey East Stand was one of only a dozen or so of Archibald Leitch's stands surviving at the time of survey. It was built in 1936, of steel-framed construction covered largely with corrugated metal sheeting. The ground floor contained players' changing rooms and associated facilities to the north, with managerial offices and board rooms located at the centre. To the south were partitioned rooms serving the groundsmen, St John's Ambulance and the Police, as well as amenities such as toilets and refreshment stands. The first floor was essentially a long corridor with toilet facilities to the east, along its length, and small doorways to the west leading out on to the stand terrace. The terrace itself comprised 14 rows along its length, with a central 'reserved' section. Very little had been altered within the stand since its construction, although many original features appeared to have recently been removed. The remainder of the ground contained later modern concrete terraces to the north, west and south, although some remains of earlier terracing were noted in situ beneath the modern terraces. To the north and south were brick lean-to ticket turnstiles, contemporary with the East Stand. (3)