Pennycross Stadium was a

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

and

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 ...

stadium in north

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

, Devon.

Origins

In 1928 southeast of Pennycross village and directly east of the Pennycross vicarage an area of rural land was identified for a greyhound track in the north of Plymouth. There had been attempts at racing on the Polo Grounds in nearby Roborough and

Beacon Park Beacon Park is a public park in the centre of the city of Lichfield, Staffordshire, in the United Kingdom. The park was created in 1859 when the Museum Gardens were laid out adjacent to the newly built Free Museum and Library. The park has si ...

also hosted summer racing but this was the first time a substantial stadium was being constructed. The venture would cost over £30,000 and take over six months to build before coming to life and the track was one of nineteen that the

Greyhound Racing Association The Greyhound Racing Association was a UK-based private company founded in 1925 and existed until 2019. It was involved in the management of sports venues, notably greyhound racing stadia. The GRA was responsible for introducing Greyhound racing ...

(GRA) had a financial interest in.

Opening

The first meeting was held on 28 May 1928 promoted by the Plymouth Greyhound Stadium Ltd company becoming the third venue in Plymouth to experience greyhound racing. The track circumference was a large 471 yards with race distances of 525 & 725 yards; the hare was a 'Metro-Vickers' with racing being held four times per week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings. The stadium could be accessed on a private road that linked to Honicknowle Lane and Ham Drive and facilities included the Pennycross Sports Club for members. The first winner at Pennycross in a time of 33.4sec was Tabiffa, a 2-1 shot, owned by Miss Wynter. A rehearsal had taken place two nights previously on the Saturday whereby Managing Director Jack Andrew and Racing Manager Mr J A Chapman selected which greyhounds would run on opening night.

History

By 1931 three more venues at Beacon Castle, Devonport and Plymstock Park had all tried the new sport in the Plymouth area. However Pennycross was the only track to survive beyond 1934. Speedway also began at Pennycross in 1931. Although racing under

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 r ...

rules when the track first opened it is believed that the track became independent (unaffiliated to a governing body) sometime before or during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Totalisator A tote board (or totalisator/totalizator) is a numeric or alphanumeric display used to convey information, typically at a race track (to display the odds or payoffs for each horse) or at a telethon (to display the total amount donated to the chari ...

turnover in 1946 was £1,020,472 during its peak. The stadium had residential housing to its south and as the years passed this increased in size and began to close in around the track on the east and then north. During the sixties the west followed suit resulting in a strange situation where the stadium looked out of place completely surrounded by housing. Pennycross stadium nearly disappeared itself in 1961 after being chosen as the new site for a boys school but it gained a reprieve and an extended lease. In the late 1960s the track continued to race on Wednesday and Saturday nights at 7.30pm, there were two licensed bars and five buffet bars. The track was all-grass with distances of 275, 300, 500, 525, 750 & 800 yards and an inside hare system.

Closure

The stadium began to become extremely run down with little investment put into it, the speedway stopped and eventually in November 1972 the greyhounds ceased. The stadium was demolished and became industrial units and then housing. The site today is the Cherry Tree Gardens housing development on Pennycross Close.

Speedway

References

{{Motorcycle speedway tracks Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Defunct speedway venues in England Sports venues in Plymouth, Devon