Description

TG5208 WELLESLEY ROAD
839-1/5/10004 Grandstand at Wellesley Recreation
02-MAY-00 Ground

GV II

Football grandstand. 1890-1 by J.W. Cockrill, the Borough Engineer. Brick ground floor with timber superstructure; asbestos clad roof of 1953.
EXTERIOR: west elevation of 12 bays of canopy above brick ground floor. Ground floor with central brick and concrete steps flanked by one canted bay window right and left, each bay with half-glazed double doors and 3-paned fixed windows. 9 cast-iron windows at intervals, those either side of south canted bay circular (the south one boarded over), the remainder oval. Brickwork with square billet ornament at top.
Superstructure in form of open grandstand with raking terrace platform. 12 open bays defined by square timber posts with feathered chamfers, and with moulded capitals and stopped bases. Each post with passing brace to east, and 3 scrolled braces to other directions. Scalloped and pierced fasia board. Central gable with elliptical insert with decoratively pierced tympanum. Clock of 1896 by E. Green of Yarmouth.
North and south returns with double timber doors to ground floor under 5-vaned fanlights and 2 segmental openings above, those to the west open, to the east with timber panelling below 5-vaned fanlights. Gable heads each with decoratively pierced semi-elliptical boarding.
Rear (east) elevation consists of 12 bays of twin round-headed lancets with flat buttresses between each pair. Common stringcourse. Grandstand stage with braced timber panels.
INTERIOR: grandstand with roof of 13 king-post trusses and diagonal horizontal braces between the posts.
Ground floor with timber-lined changing rooms, showers and toilets. Longitudinal passage running between doors in gable ends, on the west side of which are cast-iron columns.
HISTORY: possibly the earliest football grandstand surviving in England.
Forms a group with the Tennis Pavilion (qv) and Ticket Office(qv).

Listing NGR: TG5309808202

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26660489

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
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  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair