The Town Ground was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

ground in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

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 ...

. It was the home ground of

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

, and the first ground to host a football match using crossbars and goal nets.

History

In July 1890 Nottingham Forest bought "Councilllor Woodward's Field", a site at the end of Arkwright Street, in order to build a new ground. The construction works cost £1,000; they included a covered 1,000-capacity stand with a standing area in front on the northern touchline, a large embankment with six steps running the whole length of the pitch on the southern touchline and an embankment with areas of uncovered seating at the western end.Paul Smith & Shirley Smith (2005) ''The Ultimate Directory of English & Scottish Football League Grounds Second Edition 1888–2005'', Yore Publications, p129, The ground was opened on 2 October in the 1890–91 season with a friendly match against Queen's Park, which Forest won 4–2 in front of 3,500 sopectators. In 1891 the Town Ground hosted a game between the North and the South, which was also the first match to be played using crossbars and goalnets. Forest were elected to

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

in 1892, and the first League match at the ground was played on 10 September 1892, with Forest losing 4–3 to

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

in front of 9,000 spectators. The ground was also used on three occasions in 1895 and 1896 by

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

when their

Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nottingham. Trent Bridge is also t ...

ground was being used for cricket. In the 1895–96 season the ground was one of the venues for the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

semi-finals, with

The Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

beating

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

3–1. The record League attendance of 15,000 was set on 24 April 1897 for a promotion-relegation test match between Forest and

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

. This was equalled on 4 September 1897 when Forest and Notts County played out a 1–1 draw in the Nottingham derby. Forest moved to their new

City Ground The City Ground is a football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest Football Club since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,445. The stadium was a venue when E ...

on 3 September 1898.History of the City Ground
Nottingham Forest The last League match at the Town Ground was a 3–1 win against

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

on 9 April 1898, watched by 6,000 spectators. The site was subsequently used for housing.

References

{{Nottingham Forest F.C. Defunct football venues in England Defunct sports venues in Nottinghamshire Nottingham Forest F.C. Notts County F.C. Sports venues completed in 1890 English Football League venues Sports venues in Nottingham Football Alliance venues