Chippenham Mead is a registered town/village green in Monmouth, Wales that has been also known as Chippenham Fields, Chippenham Park, Chippenham Gate and Monmouth Sports Ground. There is a sports area within the park called Chippenham Sports Ground. The green is located between Blestium Street and the Banks of the River Wye (intersected by the A40(T) Monmouth Bypass Rd), Monmouth. It is listed at Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.
Chippenham Sports Ground, also known as Little Chippenham, is run by Monmouth Sports Association and is made up of and used by Monmouth Tennis Club, Monmouth Bowls Club[1] and bowling green, Monmouth Cricket Club,[2]Monmouth Rugby Football Club[3] and Monmouth Town F.C.,[4] known as The Kingfishers. It is the Welsh base for Cricketers with a Disability.[5]
Monmouth Races
Between 1734 and 1893, Chippenham was used annually for horse racing. Sometime between 1893 and 1900, the racing moved to Vauxhall Fields, where racing ended in 1933[6] for unknown reasons. This ended almost 200 years of racing in Monmouth. Early race cards from newspapers like the London Evening Post refer to the course as Chippenham Mead. Initially the event was five days but then moved to a two-day event by 1880.[7]
Monmouth races were a two-day annual event in the late 1860s and early 1870s, for example held on 22 and 23 September in 1870. The Great Western Railway often advertised "CHEAP RETURN TICKETS" for the special event.[8][9][10]
1880 OS map showing the Winning Post and grandstand locationsMonmouth Races 1734
The Beaufort Cup - Winner Mr H Rentforths Whitchcraft 5 yrs, Linch
The Chippenham Stakes - Winner Mr Prices Marplot 2 yrs, G Sopp
Troy Plate - Winner Chaltelherault
County Members Plate - Winner Lady Louise
Welter Plate - Winner MA
Farmers Race - Winner Emolena
Between 1876 and 1880, the race meet did not take place. On Tuesday 28 September 1880, the races returned. The Western Mail newspaper of 31 July 1880 heralded the return of Monmouth races and claimed that "Monmouth races were among the oldest in England, for in the Calender[sic?] printed by order of his Most Gracious Majesty dated 1739, we find two days good racing accounted for at the town of Monmouth"[12]
Some of the races for the 1880 event were:
County Members Plate
Town Plate
Hendre Hurdle
Clearwell Stakes
Pontypool Park Stakes
Drybridge Stakes
Croft-y-Bwle Stakes for Polo Ponies
Incidents
In 1925 a single engined Avro504K bi-plane registered as G-EATB crashed landed on Chippenham Mead. The circumstances surrounding the incident are not known.[13]
Gallery
Chippenham Park - Tree lined path
Sports Ground field and club house, with the Hedged Bowling green to the left - Used by the Cricket Club, Bowls Club, Football Club and Monmouth Sports Association
Chippenham Sports Ground field entrance - Monmouth Sports Association
↑ "Monmouth Races Off", The Daily Mirror, p.29, 23 February 1934
↑ "Monmouth Races", London Evening Post, p.1, 13 August 1734
↑ "Great Western Railway (Advertisement)", Western Mail (Cardiff, Wales), p.1, 20 September 1870
↑ "Great Western Railway (Advertisement)", Western Mail (Cardiff, Wales), p.1, 30 September 1870
↑ "Great Western Railway (Advertisement)", Western Mail (Cardiff, Wales), p.1, 19 September 1892
↑ "Monmouth Races", Western Mail, Cardiff, Wales, p.4, 23 September 1870
↑ "Resuscitation of the Monmouth Races", Western Mail, Cardiff, Wales, p.5, 31 July 1880
↑ Alan Sutton Publishing, Monmouth and the River Wye in Old Photographs, Alan Sutton Publishing, 1989, ISBN0-86299-481-0, page 105
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