Twerton Park
Twerton Park is a football stadium in the Twerton suburb of Bath, England. It has a physical capacity of 8,840, containing 1,006 seats. It is currently the home of Bath City F.C., who have played there since 1932. From 1986 to 1996, Bristol Rovers F.C. played at the ground following their departure from Eastville in Bristol. In 2020, the ground also became the home stadium for Bristol City Women.
The stadium has four stands; the Bath End, the Grandstand, The Popular Side, and the Bristol End. The ground once had a capacity up to 20,000, with the record attendance of 18,020 was set between Bath City and Brighton & Hove Albion in the FA Cup third round in 1960. Though the site opened in 1909, the stadium was not constructed until 1932, with The Grandstand being the first of the four stands to be constructed. The stadium is 2.5 km from the city centre.
The two bars within the stadium are named after former players: Charlies', and Randall's. Twerton Park has undergone several expansions throughout its history, though the decades in which it saw the most development were the 1930s, 1940s, 1960s and the 1980s—including the addition of the family stand, west of The Grandstand.
History
Innox Park (1909–1932)
Before any sports ground was established, the Park was opened on 26 June 1909 as Innox Park on land that had been donated by Thomas Carr, merely a field as a source for recreational activity. The opening ceremony involved a parade of scholars, the singing of hymns and a speech by the chairman of the parish council. Innox Park was named the “Cities fourth recreation ground.” The declaration was declared by Mr Hope, who stated; it was not usual that such a duty fell on the shoulders of a working man, but it was fitting that he should be expected to do so on behalf of the working industrial community within the city.The opening of Twerton Park (1932)
moved to Twerton Park in 1932. The property was bought by Messers C Seargant at a sale held at the Full Moon pub in Twerton. However there was still a "mountain of work to do on the site." Twerton Park, at the time, was not a football stadium or even a football ground, there was no cover of any kind. It was a “flattish grassy area”, with a long steep slope leading up to Innox Park behind. Within a few weeks, Bath City took plunge with regard to the stand and placed a contract for a one thousand seater. It would cost in the region of £320. The local press called for a new name of the ground, Avondale Park, South Ewood, Mortimer Park, Davis Park, West view park, and Avon Park were some of the suggested names.Chairman Reg Coles officially ordered the new steel structure with a galvanized roof and glazed ends. The club supporters decided to temporarily spruce up an outbuilding from an orchard nearby to be used as dressing rooms and the club room, with six weeks to go before the first official game at the stadium there was no stand, no dressing rooms and no entrances. A few weeks later, plans were drawn up and footings dug, with the foundations weighing fifty tons and costing the club £100 each. By the end of May, the supporters had laid a substantial area of turf. From 31 May – 2 “1932, the “Great Supporters Carnival” took place on the site. During which, the Twerton community laid out flags and bunting the length of Twerton High Street to “celebrate the return of football”. There was the usual funfair; a boxing exhibition, games for children and adults – Fancy dress, skittles, guess the weight of the pig. In addition, a motor-cycle gymkhana. The first ever game at Twerton Park was played against Bristol Rovers Reserves in the Southern League on the 27 August 1932, in front of a crowd of 2,936, in which Bath won 2–0.
A stadium worthy of the West (1932–1967)
On 25 November 1934, Bath City would play Charlton Athletic, with 600 tickets being sold in two days as work continued to bring the ground up to scratch for the game. A new exit was made from the car park and crush barriers were put in place all along the bank in front of the turnstiles. Half an hour before kick off there were over 5000 in the ground. The official attendance was 9,750, the record gate at the time. Roofing was added to The Popular Side in 1935, with the chairman, Mortimer believing it was a necessity to provide supporters with shelter during bad weather. Aldershot had a "very fine stand" and the price of it was one which appealed to the club's management team, A stand similar would be erected though about half the size. The same year, the club carried on building dressings rooms under the stand, to replace the ones created during the building of the ground from outbuildings.On 23 April 1937, 11,000 spectators watched the Coronation Cup final between Arsenal and Portsmouth, with Arsenal winning the match 2–0. 500 cars were said to be parked within the car park just outside of the ground. The mayor at the time stated that "there are no more welcome visitors to the city of Bath than the teams of Portsmouth and Arsenal." In April 1941, the city was targeted with bombing raids. Twerton was badly hit, with half The Popular Side being destroyed, and much of the congregated fence blown away, as well as structural damage to the grandstand, the season was voided, with much of the city "razed to the ground." In 1942, The Bath End, was still yet to have any sought of backdrop, with wingers reporting they had the illusion of "dropping of the ends of the earth" with the steep hill behind it when playing on that side, and so chairman Mr Mortimer said it would be the first to be terraced.
Work was frantic at Twerton Park to ready it for what was a predicted 20,000 gate versus Aston Villa. Extra terracing was cut on the banks. The gates were opened at 12:30 and over 50 police were present, as 17,000 made their way to the ground, Bath City's record league attendance. In the summer of 1946 the stadium was in discussion to be converted to an arena for Greyhound racing, with the Bath Chronicle reporting that "they might be forced to sell unless greater support was shown." Chairman at the time, Arthur Mortimer, stated that he was “against dog racing, though there may be no alternative." That year, the stadium was in plans for redevelopment. Mortimer stated that he desired to provide Bath with a stadium equal to, if not superior to any in the West of England.
With the stadium in heavy discussion for expansion, to a capacity of 40,000, in aim to become; "a stadium worthy of the city". It was planned first to move the playing field a few yards to the west to enable a bank at the Bath End, and to extend the Popular Side, with the addition of further concrete terracing. The dressing room and facilities within the stadium were also being discussed for improvement. The greyhound racing proposal was later rejected in August 1946 as it had recently been decided that no dog racing was allowed for any league club, the management committee felt their efforts towards gaining entry into the English Football League would be vetoed. The chairman stated: "We feel that our geographical position alone entitles us to a higher place in the sun, with Bath and the surrounding districts, we can call upon 100,000 to support league football in the town.
During the 1946–47 season, work went on to improve Twerton, and rubble from bombsites around the city was "dropped at the ground" ready as hardcore for the terraces and to build up the banking. A refreshment hut was also approved by the Bath surveying commission. In 1948, work had continued on the stadium, the bank at the front of the Grandstand was concreted, a portion of the Popular Side closer to what is now the Bristol End, was to be cleared and moved to form a new bank, concurrently the pitch was moved westwards, to allow greater space for spectators at the Bath End and space for terracing to be built.
At the end of May 1950, the government announced the end of petrol rationing, giving indirect access to greater amounts of timber and building materials. The club consequently made plans to put right some parts of the stadium which had been damaged in the war, such as repairing some of the damaged stand on The Popular Side. In 1956, the supporters club began work on fencing the south and west sides of the stadium, with concrete posts holding 500 yards of chain link, and an evergreen hedge to make it unclimbable. A pair of wide gates were erected with two ticket entrances for pedestrians, as the ground began to "take a tidier look. For the 1956–57 season crowds were averaging 3,500-4,000.In 1961, Bath City were to play Brighton & Hove Albion in the FA Cup third round. Work began to remove 1,500 tons of earth from the Bristol End, for the construction of a temporary stand to hold an extra 2,000 people. It was a calculated gamble by chairman Arthur Mortimer who was aware that the cost would almost held the profit margins but he was adamant that as many Bathonian's as possible should see the game. More of The Popular Side terracing was concreted, the press had "boosted the game to such as degree" that many predicted 15,000, in fact 18,020 roared Bath City on. Attendances on average during the 1940s and 1950s were some of the highest recorded in Bath City's history. Notable large home attendances during this period included; 17,000 in 1944 vs Aston Villa 14,000 vs Southend United in the 1952–53 season and 11,700 at Twerton Park against rivals Yeovil Town in 1957. The record attendance of 18,020 was recorded in 1960 versus Brighton & Hove Albion.
Capacity reduction and The Rovers years (1967–2000)
In 1967, "Wembley style" goalposts were added the ground, the same year, the pitch was moved back towards the Bristol End by 20 feet. New Director, Reg Ironside, announced new significant changes would be made to the ground, with the provision of a new social club, replacing the building in the car park. On the Popular Side, Bath City had sold some of the land for housing and the cover was taken down and moved nearer the pitch, the terracing was partly removed, dropping the stand's capacity significantly, Ironside stated the reason was that a new social club would provide a large portion of the income needed to run Bath City, as gate money and various fund raising schemes were proving inefficient. On 23 May 1970, the stadium hosted a pop concert, a crowd of 15,000 was predicted but the actual attendance ended being a third of that number. It was expected that it would wipe a third of the debts from the book but in fact, it contributed to heavy losses as hundreds watched from Innox Park above, and more climbed over the fences, when well known band, Fleetwood Mac played. To add to the "farce" the lights and amplifies were all switches off as the band played. The festival would be known as the "Aqua Sulis incident." In 1986, Bristol Rovers moved to Twerton. Contractors moved in to start work on the terraces with repaired and new turnstiles and gates, plus a retaining wall and segregation fencing. The stadium went under heavy reconstruction, with the Bristol End's terracing being implemented, turnstiles at the west end of the stadium were also added to accommodate away fans, costing £80,000. The ground braced itself for crowds approaching 7–8,000. Bristol Rovers' first game at Twerton Park attracted 4,000 against Reading. Before the start of the 1987–88 season Bath and Rovers had stumped up £8,000 for a new pitch.In 1988, Twerton was getting used to big crowds for Bristol Rovers, with 8,400 crammed in versus Wolverhampton Wanderers. In 1989, Rovers announced the building of a new 230 seater stand, to the west of the main stand. Former Chairman; Gilbert Walshaw and Arthur Mortimer's long dream of League football appeared to have moved a step closer. That season, Bristol Rovers won the Football League Third Division, clinching the title on 2 May 1990 with a 3–0 victory over fierce rivals Bristol City, beating the Robins to the title by 2 points. Several hours after the game, at midnight, the Grandstand was heavily damaged by Bristol City Hooligans. It was a stunning blow for all at both clubs, the video monitoring box was destroyed along with the press box, seating and social rooms inside. Nine Bristol City supporters were later convicted of arson. The cost to rebuild the Main Stand was £800,000 A temporary stand was put up, though the grandstand was fully refurbished in June. Rovers notably played Liverpool in the FA cup on 5 February 1992, in front of a crowd of over 9,000.