Crabble Athletic Ground is a late-19th-century sports ground purchased in 1896 for cycling, cricket and football. Until 1970 the site was used as a venue for county cricket.
The site was purchased in 1902 by Dover District Council. Features include a 600 metre cycling track, amphitheatre, beech grove and Victorian sports pavilion an amphitheatre, sheltered by pine and beech, and having fine views across Dover, the ground has been described as a cricketers' paradise. A path leads from the turnstiles at the lower entrance, through a beech grove to the Club house and terraces overlooking the ground. Two gatehouses flank the upper entrance used by motor traffic. The charm of the site is due in part to the Victorian flint and brick pavilion (1896 to 1901) with its wooden veranda, dormers and weather vane turret.
Crabble Athletic Ground was initiated by a syndicate in 1896 for cricket and cycling, and included the football ground already in existence. It was bought out by Dover Council in 1902 as part of a plan to improve the town facilities.

In 2017 the Kent Gardens Trust reviewed the available historic evidence. From the report:

" SUMMARY OF HISTORIC INTEREST
Approximately 14 acres in extent of which an eight-acre area was carved out of
the hillside, to create a cricket ground in what had been known as Crabble
Meadows. This created an amphitheatre with a beech grove, two gate houses
flanking the west road entrance and Victorian Sports Pavilion, built 1896 to 1901,
of flint and brick with wooden veranda, dormers and weather vane turret
The current football pitch was dug out of the hillside above, behind and to the
South of the existing Pavilion in 1930 to 1931 by Dover Corporation using
Government grants to give work to the unemployed during the Depression and
the first stand built in 1932. Further development followed around the football
stadium and to the pitch through to the 1990's, however the Football Stadium is
out-with the original Crabble Athletic Ground and is not a part of the
Compendium entry and is therefore not considered in this report.

Sports facilities, created, through substantial levelling works, as a commercial
venture by local businessmen to encourage the growing popular interest in sports
towards the end of the 19th century. When the commercial venture proved to be
financially unsuccessful, the local authority purchased the Ground to maintain it
as a public amenity in which use it remains.

In the early to mid-20th century, Crabble Athletic Ground was used as one of the
Kent County Cricket Grounds and was also host to several major civic
celebrations.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT
The site on the northern slope of Coombe Down was originally taken from four
fields situated in an area known locally as Crabble meadows between the
Parishes of River and Buckland. The Tithe map of 1840-1850, indicates that the
owners of the fields were the Reverend Henry Rice and John and Edward Pilcher
Coleman. By 1896, according to the Indenture of that date held by Dover District
Council, the Rev Rice’s parcel appears to have passed to Sir Edward Bridges
Rice of Dane Court, Dover, a retired Royal Naval Admiral, while the other parcel,
a part of Crabble farm, was still owned by E.P. Coleman.

On the 6th January 1896, a syndicate named Dover Athletic Ground Ltd was set
up by Frederick Finnis (timber merchant), Henry Hayward (surveyor), Alfred
Charles Leney (brewer) and James Stilwell (solicitor), all business men of Dover,
with the intention of creating a cricket ground and cycling track. The syndicate
purchased land at Crabble for £2,500 from Sir Edward Rice and £8,600 from E.P.
Coleman. The area acquired stretched from Bunkers Hill in the east to Crabble
Bridge under the railway in the west and to the south of railway and on the north
side of Coombe Down, a total of some 42 acres and an area within the northwest
part of this parcel, extending to 14 acres, was designated as the athletic
field.

Crabble Athletic Ground was opened on Whit Monday 1897 by the local M.P.
George Wyndham with a “grand race meeting” under the management of the
Dover Cycling Club, which was attended by 6,000 spectators. The chart
attached to an Indenture of 24 November 1898 between the syndicate and Dover
Athletic Ground Ltd, transferring the title to the latter, shows the layout of the 14
acres used for the Athletic Ground with its terracing, embankment, cycle track
and entrance from Crabble Avenue.

The venture, however, was not a financial success and an agreement was made,
after an extraordinary meeting on 7th March 1902 of the Company at the Grand
Hotel, Dover, for the Company to be wound up. Initially the idea was to sell the
land for building development, but Dover Corporation stepped in and purchased
the Ground for £5,500 to ensure it remained as a recreational space.
Improvements were made by the Corporation including a winding road at the
eastern end of the site. Of further benefit, the River extension of the electric tram
was built in 1905 linking Dover via Crabble Hill to Minnis Lane, River and this ran
along the north-western boundary of the Athletic Ground. The tramline is shown
on the 3rd edition 25” OS map (1907-1923), the line leading under the railway
bridge past Crabble Paper Mill (now, 2016, apartments) following Crabble Road
over the River Dour before continuing south-westwards through the fields which
lay between Crabble Farm and the Athletic Ground. By the 4th edition of the 25”
OS map (1929-1952), the tram line had been replaced by an extension to
Crabble Road which thus now formed the western boundary of the Athletic
Ground.

In 1906, an annual cricket festival was inaugurated with the intention of attracting
County Cricket. Kent Cricket Club was so impressed with the ground that the
following year they used Crabble for the Kent v Gloucestershire match played
between the 11th and 13th July. The Ground was also used for Association
Football with the main pitch on the east (Dover) side of the cricket outfield. The
football season, however, started to impinge on the cricket season and in 1924,
the possibility of a separate football ground began to be explored. A successful
application was made to the Unemployment Grants Committee (part of the
Ministry of Labour employing the unemployed through special work schemes)
and, in 1930, work was completed on a new football ground further to the southwest,
above and behind the Athletic Ground (outside the site boundary as here
defined).

During the Second World War, Crabble Athletic Ground was used by the Royal
Corps of Signals as the headquarters of one of its units. A pillbox (Type 24) was
built, but no visible remains of this survive.

After the war, first class Cricket resumed at Crabble, but, from the 1952/53
season onwards, the cricketers had to share the ground with Dover Rugby Club.
A deteriorating wicket and outfield led to the ground being declared unfit for this
level of Cricket in 1976. Dover Cricket Club continued to play at Crabble until it
folded in the 1990’s, at which time Dover Rugby Club became the main user of
the Ground. The Rugby Club continues in this role (2016) although Dover
Football Club, which uses the football stadium above Crabble Athletic Ground
(outside the site boundary), has two access routes through the site, one from the
north-west, the other from the south-east. The Football Club also uses the
asphalt cycle track within the Athletic Ground as a car park on match days.

SITE DESCRIPTION
LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Crabble Athletics Ground straddles the two parishes of River and Buckland in the
town of Dover. The 5.6 ha (14 acre) site is rectangular in shape with its main
(long) axis lying in a north-west/south-east direction.
Much of the north-western boundary is defined by a wire mesh fence running
along the east side of Crabble Road. Behind, to the south-east, this rises an
embankment, part of the original 1896 levelling works. Along its top stand
mature trees. These appear to have been planted as a line along the length of
the embankment, but no longer form a continuous feature.

Crabble Road had been extended southwards by 1929 (4th edition OS),
replacing the earlier tramway extension, laid out in 1905, as shown on the 3rd
edition OS (1907-1923), across the fields from Crabble Hill to the Minnis Lane
terminus in River and lies along the western boundary of the Athletic Ground.
In 1993, a plot at the northern tip of the site at the junction of Crabble Road and
Crabble Avenue, was sold off to build a private house. The site boundary skirts
south round this plot, then follows Crabble Avenue in a south-easterly direction
forming the northern boundary of the Athletic Ground. Here it is delineated by a
continuation of the wire fence along the road, the embankment rising steeply
behind this to a height of around 20 feet with the broken line of mature trees
continuing along its summit. The slope is now (2016) overgrown with scrub and
trees.
The boundary continues to the south-east behind a row of early C20 houses on
the south side of Crabble Avenue before tending in a south-westerly direction. At
this point there is no definitive edge to the site as it merges into the woodland
covering Coombe Down, the boundary line continuing around in a curve to the
west until it reaches the boundary with the Football Stadium forming the east and
south boundaries. The Stadium is fenced off with high solid panels and barbed
wire fencing that follows the top edge of the Athletic Ground terracing.
The north-western boundary from the Stadium to the Athletic Ground entrance on
Crabble Road abuts housing built along Lewisham Road.

The views from the pavilion and terraces across the cricket pitch to the north-east
over the Dour valley to Old Park Hill were considered amongst the prettiest in
England when the site was originally built. Old Park Hill has now had a housing
estate built on the side of it with an industrial estate on the summit. There is still a
green area of scrub between the two where it is too steep to build. The view up
the Dour Valley towards River over the farms and fields has also been built on
and is now (2016) completely built up. Trees planted around the northern
boundary have also grown to maturity and now hide some of the built-up areas
quite effectively. The views up Coombe Down to the south are now tree covered
or obstructed by the high fencing around the Football Stadium.

ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES
The main entrance to Crabble Athletic Ground stands at the junction of Crabble
Road and Lewisham Road, opposite the north-west apex of the Ground’s cycle
track.
Two gatehouses stand one to each side of the main roadway into the Ground,
being of square single-story construction, of brick and flint with tiled roofs and
with a turnstile and window on each side. The turnstiles are in disrepair and the
windows boarded up, as are the doors at the back (2016). The gatehouses were
probably built in the1920s around the time that Crabble Road was extended
along the line of the earlier tramway (4th edition OS).

As originally laid out (1896), this part of the ground was bounded by Crabble
Farm and there appears to have been no public access point (2nd Edition 25” OS
map of 1898). There is no indication either, on the 3rd ed OS (date), that the
early C20 tramway provided an access to the Athletic Ground on this side, but it
seems likely that there would have been a stop somewhere in the vicinity of what,
by the 1920s (4th edition OS), with the arrival of Crabble Road, had become the
main entrance.

At the east end of the site is a second entrance providing access from Crabble
Avenue. This was the original entrance to the Athletic Ground (Indenture Plan,
1898) at which date the path led directly to the south-eastern apex of the cycle
track where the terracing meets with the embankment (2nd edition OS). The
original gates, if any, are gone and there is a modern (late C20/early C21)
pedestrian access and a locked wire gate arrangement for vehicular access.
The pedestrian gate is open to the public and used during league football games
for away fans to disembark from their coaches in Crabble Avenue and walk
through Crabble Athletic Ground to the Football Stadium.

PRINCIPAL BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES
Built into the terracing on the south side of the cycle track, and overlooking the
centre of the levelled oval which has the cycle track as its boundary, stands the
Sports Pavilion. Erected in the late 1890s as part of the original late C19 scheme,
it is of brick and flint construction with a tiled roof incorporating a bell tower with
weather vane on top. To its west side is a small wing built along the second
terrace and there is a balcony stretching around the front of the building at this
level, connecting the eastern and western arms of the second terrace. There are
three gabled windows set in the roof at the third floor.

A flat roofed, single story extension, constructed in 1982 and out of keeping with
the original building, projects from the ground floor of the Pavilion out to the edge
of the cycle track, encroaching onto the level area between the cycle track and
the bottom of the terracing. Dover Rugby Club holds a 25-year lease for the
Pavilion (2008-2033).

OTHER LAND
The focus of Crabble Athletic Ground is an oval, grassed, levelled playing field
some 3.2ha (8 acres) in extent, its perimeter defined by an oval cycling track.
The levelling was carried out in 1896 by Messrs W & T Denne of Walmer. The
work appears to have taken place very rapidly since it was complete by April
1896 (Dover Express; 2nd edition OS; see also chart attached to Indenture of 24
November 1898 between the syndicate and Dover Athletic Ground Ltd
transferring the title to the latter). An estimated 38,000 cubic yards of chalk
(approximately 72,500 tonnes) was dug out from the high (southern) side of the
slope and moved to the lower (northern) slope to create the level area, with the
embankment along Crabble Avenue at the north-eastern boundary rising to a
height of approximately 6 metres. (Dover Express).

The asphalt cycling track is, as originally laid out, 20 yards wide (18.3 metres)
and 640 yards (585.2 metres) per lap. It was regarded as being of international
standard (Dover Express) and remains in good condition (2016). A row of
wooden posts has been installed (early C21) around the inner edge to prevent
vehicles driving onto the grassed centre area. The cycle track is used for car
parking for football or rugby matches.

The levelled grassed area within the track is currently (2016) marked out with
several rugby pitches with goal posts erected. Flood lighting has also been
installed around the pitches on high level metal posts. Originally, in the late
1890s, the land was laid out for cricket, football, lawn tennis, and hockey with the
main centre pitch being prepared to first class standard cricket. The initial work
on the cricket ground was carried out under the supervision of George G Hearne
an old Kent professional cricketer.

Cut into the hillside to the south of the cycle track, from which they are separated
by a 2m wide level grassed strip, are two terrace levels with a third level, above
the terraces, along the top of the area, marking the natural slope of Coombe
Down. A metal fence runs along the top of the terracing. These terraces were
created as part of the original 1986 ground moving works. At their centre stands
the Sports Pavilion, rising to three floors such as to provide access to each level.
On the east side there are external steps leading up to the terraces and giving
access to the building.

To the west of the Pavilion, the terracing has brick buttresses to support the tiers
and one set of wide concrete steps from the ground to the top of the third level.
There are several other sets of concrete steps connecting the first and second
tiers to the levelled ground. This arrangement is repeated on the terracing east of
the Pavilion, with the addition of a modern, white rendered outbuilding on the
same level, a few metres east of the Pavilion.

Part way along the western terraces, 30m from the Pavilion on the second tier, is
the original late C19 cricket score board and green painted corrugated iron hut.
The structure is somewhat dilapidated and overgrown (2016).
At the main, Crabble Road entrance to the Athletic Ground, the road branches
just to the east of the gatehouses, one arm leading directly eastwards onto the
cycle track through a modern gate, the other, as laid out by 1929 (4th edition
OS), leading south up the slope to the main, west, entrance to the Football
Stadium. Between the site boundary and the roadway to the Stadium, is a grove
of mature Scots Pine trees. The ground to the east of the roadway gives access
to the two terrace levels associated with the Pavilion although this area is now
overgrown and covered with trees (2016).

From the eastern entrance on Crabble Avenue, a tarmacked path leads in a
sinuous curve through a beech grove, up the sloping ground to a modern (late
C20/early C21) wooden farm gate at the eastern apex of the cycle track. This
arrangement is shown on the 3rd edition OS (1907-23) replacing the original
straight approach. Branching southwards off the roadway is a tarmacadam path
leading further up the slope and passing the overgrown remains of two hard
surfaced tennis courts cut into the slope at this eastern end of the site. These
were put in as part of the improvements made by the Corporation after its
acquisition of the site, along with the planting of flower beds and shrubberies, and
appear on the 3rd edition OS (1907-23).

Beyond the site of the courts, the path crosses a grassy area, being the original
slope of Coombe Down, overlooking the cycle track and rugby pitches to the
north. On the north side of the path the grassy area used to be a pitch and put
course according to local people but all that remains are a few flat areas where
the greens were. The southern side of this area merges with woodland. The path
terminates at the gate of the east entrance to the Football Stadium. " (1)

<1> Kent Gardens Trust, 2017, The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Dover: Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover (Unpublished document). SKE51724.