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Chippenham Mead is a
Between 1876 and 1880, the race meet did not take place. On Tuesday 28 September 1880, the races returned. The ''Western Mail'' newspaper of 31 July 1880 heralded the return of Monmouth races and claimed that "Monmouth races were among the oldest in England, for in the printed by order of his Most Gracious Majesty dated 1739, we find two days good racing accounted for at the town of Monmouth".
In 1925 a single engined
File:Chippenham in Autumn.jpg, Chippenham Park
File:Chippenham Sports Ground field and club house- Used by the Cricket Club, Bowls Club, Football Club and Monmouth Sports Association.JPG, Sports Ground field and club house, with the bowling green to the left
File:Chippenham Sports Ground field entrance - Monmouth Sports Association.JPG, Chippenham Sports Ground field entrance
File:Chippenham Park Monmouth.JPG, Chippenham Park used for Rugby and recreation
File:Monmouth Sports grounds - geograph.org.uk - 779429.jpg, The bowling green at the Sports Ground
town green
A village green is a common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for gathering cattle ...
in Monmouth
Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...
, Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. The mead is registered common land
Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect Wood fuel, wood, or to cut turf for fuel.
A person ...
and stands between Blestium Street and the River Wye, intersected by the A40(T) Monmouth bypass. There is a sports area within the park called Chippenham Sports Ground. The mead is listed at Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
History
The mead has been also known as Chippenham Fields, Chippenham Park, Chippenham Gate and Monmouth Sports Ground. Between 1734 and 1893, Chippenham was used annually for horse racing. Sometime between 1893 and 1900, the racing moved to Vauxhall Fields, where racing ended in 1933. This ended almost 200 years of racing in Monmouth. Early race cards from newspapers like the ''London Evening Post'' refer to the course as Chippenham Mead. Initially the event was five days but then moved to a two-day event by 1880. Monmouth races were a two-day annual event in the late 1860s and early 1870s, for example held on 22 and 23 September in 1870. TheGreat Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
often advertised "CHEAP RETURN TICKETS" for the special event.
Between 1876 and 1880, the race meet did not take place. On Tuesday 28 September 1880, the races returned. The ''Western Mail'' newspaper of 31 July 1880 heralded the return of Monmouth races and claimed that "Monmouth races were among the oldest in England, for in the printed by order of his Most Gracious Majesty dated 1739, we find two days good racing accounted for at the town of Monmouth".
In 1925 a single engined Avro
AVRO, short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep ("General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broad ...
504K bi-plane registered as G-EATB crashed landed on Chippenham Mead. The circumstances surrounding the incident are not known.Alan Sutton Publishing, ''Monmouth and the River Wye in Old Photographs'', Alan Sutton Publishing, 1989, , page 105
In 2022 Chippenham Mead was designated Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
Current usage
Chippenham Sports Ground, also known as Little Chippenham, is run by Monmouth Sports Association and is made up of and used by Monmouth Tennis Club, Monmouth Bowls Club and bowling green,Monmouth Cricket Club
Monmouth Cricket Club is based at Monmouth Sports Ground, Chippenham Fields, in Monmouth, Wales.
The club runs junior sides, an U15s, U13s and U11s, which play in the Gwent League.
In 2012, Monmouth rejoined the Cricket Wales pyramid after 20 y ...
, Monmouth Rugby Football Club and Monmouth Town F.C., known as ''The Kingfishers''. It is the Welsh base for ''Cricketers with a Disability''.
In 2021 a new children's play area was opened on the mead, and the old site, closer to the dual carriageway, was returned to grassland.
Gallery
Notes
{{Reflist Defunct horse racing venues in Wales Monmouth, Wales Parks in Monmouthshire Sports venues completed in 1734 Common land in Wales Registered historic parks and gardens in Monmouthshire