The Lawn Ground was located in

Nailsworth Nailsworth is a town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, lying in one of the Stroud Valleys in the Cotswolds, on the A46 road (the Roman Fosse Way), south of Stroud and about north-east of Bristol and Bath. The parish had a populat ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and was, from 1890 to 2006, home to the English football club,

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

who currently play in

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

, following promotion in 2021-22. The Lawn Ground also hosted local cup finals as well as being home to Forest Green's Ladies and youth sides. The ground was located at the top of a steep hill in the hamlet of Forest Green and had a total capacity of 5,141 people. Forest Green matches drew approximately 1,000 spectators on average at the Lawn Ground. The ground's record attendance is 3,002 for a match between Forest Green and St Albans City, in a

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

semi-final on 18 April 1999. Until the 1950s, the Lawn was little more than an open field, but the Rovers' success required upgrades to the stadium. At this point, terraces were constructed for fans and a "famously partial leveling of the pitch" occurred. In 1996, the Trevor Horsley Stand, named after the chairman of the club, Trevor Horsley, was constructed for over £200,000. This stand seated 300 and included three hospitality boxes, underground changing rooms, a board room, function room, bar, a health suite and offices. It also featured a quirky

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

behind the stand. Aside from the Trevor Horsley Stand, the rest of the ground, about 80 percent, was terraced. The biggest terrace stand was the covered Barnfield Terrace. The terrace was built during 2001 and 2002 to increase the ground's capacity, and Forest Green fans paid to have their names engraved onto bricks inside that stand. The Barnfield Terrace was sponsored by Rockwool. When the club left the ground at the end of the 2005–2006 season, the stand was transferred brick by brick to their new ground. Other sections of the Lawn Ground included the Nympsfield Road Terrace which was located behind a goal at the northern end of the ground. The Lawn Ground was demolished and turned into housing after the club moved into the new, modern The New Lawn Stadium, which now hosts all their matches. Forest Green began playing at the new stadium which is only a few hundred yards from the old Lawn, from the start of the 2006–2007 season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawn Ground Defunct football venues in England Forest Green Rovers F.C. Sports venues completed in 1890