Audenshaw Greyhound Racing and Sports Ground was a

trotting track The trot is a ten-beat diagonal horse gait where the diagonal pairs of legs move forward at the same time with a moment of suspension between each beat. It has a wide variation in possible speeds, but averages about . A very slow trot is somet ...

, speedway dirt track and greyhound racing track in

Audenshaw Audenshaw is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester. Historically part of Lancashire, in 2011 it had a population of 11,419. The name derives from Aldwin, a Saxon personal name, and the Old English suffix ...

, near

Ashton-under-Lyne Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, east of Manche ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

Origins

Before the turn of the 20th century an athletic and

coursing Coursing by humans is the pursuit of game or other animals by dogs—chiefly greyhounds and other sighthounds—catching their prey by speed, running by sight, but not by scent. Coursing was a common hunting technique, practised by the nobility, ...

ground was constructed east of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

near

on the north side of the Manchester Road and east side of the Ashton Branch Junction Railway Line (part of the London and North Western Railway). This is not to be confused with the Athletics stadium that existed on the south side of the Manchester Road and had been built earlier.

Speedway

A large

known as the Audenshaw Park Racecourse replaced the athletic and coursing ground in 1921 and seven years later in 1928 a

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta *Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana Types of races and race cours ...

dirt track circuit was built by the South Manchester Motor Club inside the trotting track. The dirt track was known as the 'Snipe' named after the local Snipe Inn and the first meeting took place on Saturday 23 March. The track gained a bad reputation due to its unsafe nature because it was not fenced in and piles of dirt and coal defined the perimeter which ultimately resulted in three riders being killed. The track was banned from hosting speedway and the last meeting took place on 16 April 1931.

Greyhound racing

Following the loss of speedway the trotting track suffered problems with the sport in decline it was decided in December 1931 to stop the trotting events and bring in greyhound racing. A greyhound track was constructed and the first meeting was held on 15 March 1932. The racing was conducted under British Greyhound Track Control Society (BGTCS) rules. The BGTCS was the rival organisation to the much larger

National Greyhound Racing Club The National Greyhound Racing Club was an organisation that governed Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom. History The National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC) was formed in 1928 and this body would be responsible for regulation, licensing and the ...

Closure

The greyhound racing only lasted until April 1934 when the whole operation went up for auction as a result of liquidation. Advertised as the Audenshaw Greyhound Racing and Sports Ground the offer included 21½ acres of freehold land with a half mile cinder track suitable for speedway, a 460 yards greyhound oval and a track suitable for trotting or athletic meetings. Other items included in the sale were the Sumner electric hare system, one hundred company owned greyhounds, kennels, stables, stand accommodation, members club house, floodlighting and a public address system. It is believed that the site had been subject to housing redevelopment since March 1930 and the local corporation must have become involved due to the fact that the whole site was demolished and became housing soon after. The Snipe Inn still exists today.

References

{{Motorcycle speedway tracks Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Defunct speedway venues in England Defunct sports venues in Greater Manchester Audenshaw Sport in Tameside