Arsenal At The Manor Ground

Paul Talling's Derelict London site has a wealth of pictures of old London sports grounds including those of present football clubs. Here is what the site has to say about Arsenal's Manor Ground:

"The site of the 3rd Ground (The Manor Ground) 1887 - 1890 and 1893-1913"
"In 1888, after the Sportsman Ground had flooded, the club moved to the adjoining Manor Field (as it was originally known), which was soon renamed Manor Ground. The pitch was notoriously muddy and on its southern side ran a large open sewer. There were no stands as such; the club used wagons borrowed from nearby Army bases to house spectators. The club's first match there was against Millwall Rovers, in 1888; it finished 3-0 to Arsenal.

After a move to the Invicta Ground for 3 years, Arsenal returned to the Manor Ground and bought it with money raised from a share issue, erected a single main stand and banks of terracing, and moved back there before the start of the 1893-94 season, in time for the club's Football League debut. The stadium averaged a gate of 6,000 that season.

In 1904 a second stand was added (this was the first terrace in the country to be nicknamed Spion Kop,although many other clubs, such as Liverpool, also built "Kop" stands that were better known). With the club having achieved promotion to the First Division that year, with the additional capacity attendances reached over 20,000 for some matches.

However, in 1910 Woolwich Arsenal faced bankruptcy, with an average crowd dwindling to 11,000. London property magnate and Fulham chairman Sir Henry Norris bought Arsenal out, rescuing the club, and proceeded to move them all the way across London to the new Arsenal Stadium in Highbury three years later, after an attempt to merge Fulham and Arsenal failed.

Woolwich Arsenal played their last match at the Manor Ground (against Middlesbrough in front of 3,000 people) in 1913. After they left, the ground soon fell derelict, and was eventually demolished and the land redeveloped. Today it is home to a run down industrial estate which itself is due to be redeveloped next year."

Further modern view of site: Photo