Temple Mills Stadium also known as White Temple 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 ...

, whippet racing and

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

venue in

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

Origins

The track was located on the west side of Temple Mills Lane and accessed by a road called Wycliffe Road at the time. To the west was the

River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in South East England. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Creek. It is one of t ...

and it was dominated to the east, north and south by the

Temple Mills Temple Mills is a district located on the boundary of the London boroughs of London Borough of Newham, Newham and London Borough of Waltham Forest, Waltham Forest, with a small part also in London Borough of Hackney, Hackney in east London. Temp ...

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

. It was constructed on ground next to an Artificial Manure Works and resulted in the considerable reduction of Wycliffe Road.

Opening

The track is known to have been in operation in January 1933, when it was hosting whippet racing over 315 and 480 yards. It is not to be confused with

Hackney Wick Stadium Hackney Wick Stadium was a greyhound racing and speedway stadium located at Waterden Road in the London Borough of Hackney. Origins The site chosen for the stadium was on land known as Hackney Marshes west of the River Lea and on the west sid ...

Clapton Stadium The Clapton Stadium, also known as Millfields Road, was a football ground and greyhound racing stadium in the Lower Clapton area of London. History The stadium was originally named Whittles Athletic Ground and was mostly used for whippet racin ...

History

The track was described as a very basic flapping track (independent, not affiliated to the

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 ...

). It held significant boxing bout during 1935 including ones by

Dick Corbett Richard Coleman (28 September 1908 – 3 March 1943), better known as Dick Corbett, was a two-time British bantamweight champion. He was from Bethnal Green, London. Boxing career According to his traceable fight record Corbett remained undefea ...

and

Harry Mizler Hyman Barnett "Harry" Mizler (22 January 1913 – March 1990) was an English boxer who competed for Great Britain in the 1932 Summer Olympics and won the British BBoC Lightweight title in January 1934. Early life and amateur career M ...

. The 1946 tote turnover reached £776,050, a sizeable sum bearing in mind the track only housed a maximum of 650 people. During 1946 the

visited the track (during the £1,000 Cambridgeshire final event) with the intention of catching attendees with an NGRC licence in their name. If they identify anyone they will subsequently disqualify them from all NGRC tracks. The attending of flapping tracks by any person with a licence is prohibited in the rules of racing. On 11 February 1947 the track held a daylight race meeting despite a government ban announced by Sir Guy Bower (the Deputy Secretary). The ban was designed to conserve fuel and the meeting was attended by government officials to verify that no electricity was used. The hare was powered by two men on a tandem.

Closure

It is believed that it closed around 1949. It became a playing field on the north side of the newly constructed Clays Lane. before being converted into a council-run site for Travellers. Initially cleared for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, it is today the Chobham Manor housing, on the south side of Abercrombie Road, close to the

Lee Valley VeloPark Lee Valley VeloPark is a cycling centre on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London, England. It is owned and managed by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, and it was opened to the public in March 2014. The facility was one of the pe ...

References

{{English greyhound tracks Defunct greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom Defunct greyhound racing venues in London Greyhound racing in London