Monument record TQ 76 NE 329 - Gillingham Football Ground

Priestfield Ground, site of Gillingham Football Club. Orig Royal Engineers 1st eleven team, played first game at the site as Brompton FC against Woolwich Arsenal Reserves on 2nd Sept 1893. Became Gillingham FC 1913. Wooden Pavillion and stand built on the Redfern Road side in 1893 with a second stand added on the Gorden Road side especially to segregate dockers and soldiers in 1899. These stands remained until demolished in 1985 when they were the oldest in senior British football. A new main stand was constructed in 1914, terracing expanded in 1920s, a pitch side wall built in 1955 and floodlighting installed in 1967. (1)

In the early 1890s a team called Excelsior was formed in Gillingham. They played on the Great Lines, common ground still used now. In 1893 Excelcior's followers decided to formalise their club and find an enclosed ground. A plot near Gillingham Road was chosen, large enough for football and a cycle track, and already hedged on two sides. To raise the 600 pounds needed the New Brompton FC Co Ltd was formed, and the ground named accordingly the New Brompton Athletic Ground, although Priestfield Road soon became its more familiar title. In 1893 there was a pavilion and a 400 seat wooden stand on the railway side (now Redfern Avenue). On the Gordon Road side, another stand was built in 1899 by dockyard workers. New Brompton changed their name to Gillingham in 1913 and a year later hired the firm of Humphreys to build a new Main Stand. After joining the newly formed Division Three in 1920, the next decade saw the Gills expand and improve the ground's terracing and, in 1927, cover the Rainham End. In 1947 the ground's name was changed to Priestfield Stadium and in 1955 the pitch was levelled, new terracing was laid and a cover provided for the terrace by the Gordon Road Stand. The Main Stand was rerurbished and reroofed in 1965 and the paddock area was seated ten years later. In 1985 the ground was designated under the Safety of Sports Grounds Act and forced to close the Gordon Road Stand. In 1999 a new stand was opened at the Rainham End and in 2000 a new Gordon Road Stand is expected to open. (2)

<1> Not applicable, SMR Kent uncatalogued index entry, S Inglis 'Football Grounds of Britain' (Collins, 1996) (Miscellaneous Material). SKE6440.

<2> Simon Inlis, 1996, Football grounds of Britain (Monograph). SKE58616.