Parkwood Greyhound Stadium

Last updated
Parkwood Greyhound Stadium
LocationCraven Road, Keighley, West Yorkshire
Coordinates 53°52′19″N1°53′25″W / 53.87194°N 1.89028°W / 53.87194; -1.89028
Opened1947
Closed1974

Parkwood Greyhound Stadium was a greyhound racing and football stadium on Craven Road in Keighley, West Yorkshire. [1]

Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom

Greyhound racing is an industry in the United Kingdom. The industry uses a Parimutuel betting tote system with on-course and off-course betting available, with a turnover of £75,100,000.

Association football Team field sport

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played with a spherical ball between two teams of eleven players. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies, making it the world's most popular sport. The game is played on a rectangular field called a pitch with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by moving the ball beyond the goal line into the opposing goal.

Keighley town and civil parish of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England

Keighley is a town and civil parish within the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, 11 miles (18 km) north-west of Bradford, 11 miles (18 km) south of Ilkley, 13 miles (21 km), north of Halifax, 12 miles (19 km) south-east of Skipton, and 20 miles (32 km) north-west of Leeds at the confluence of the rivers Aire and Worth. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Keighley lies between Airedale and Keighley Moors. The town is the terminus of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, a heritage steam branch line which has been restored and runs through the Worth Valley to Oxenhope via Oakworth and Haworth. At the 2011 census, Keighley had a population of 56,348.

Contents

Origins

A football ground was constructed on a plot of land in an area known as Aireworth which was a well known for Cotton mills. The ground was used by local football team called Parkwood AFC, later Keighley Town until they folded in 1948. One year previous in 1947 the ground had been converted into a greyhound racing stadium. The stadium known as the Parkwood Stadium was located on the West of Aireworth Road between Beeches Road and the River Worth. [2]

Cotton mill factory housing powered spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton

A cotton mill is a building housing spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.

River Worth river in the United Kingdom

The River Worth is a river in West Yorkshire, England. It flows from minor tributaries on the moors above Watersheddles Reservoir down the Worth Valley to Haworth, where it is joined by Bridgehouse Beck which flows from Oxenhope. The River Worth is itself a tributary of the River Aire, which it joins at the end of the Worth Valley in Keighley.

Opening

The Yorkshire track opened to greyhound racing opened on 22 November 1947. The racing was independent (not affiliated to the sports governing body the National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC)) and was known as a flapping track which was the nickname given to independent tracks. [3]

The National Greyhound Racing Club was a former organisation that governed Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom.

History

Racing was held on Tuesday and Saturday evenings at 7.30pm, the circumference of the tracks was 410 yards and consisted of race distances over 306 and 518 yards. There was an 'Inside Sumner' hare system and photo finish apparatus. Amenities included a licensed bar a snack bar and car parking. [4]

The greyhounds were housed in kennels located three miles from the stadium in Steeton. [4]

Steeton, West Yorkshire village in Steeton with Eastburn, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England

Steeton is a small village in the Metropolitan District of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated approximately 5 miles (8 km) south-east from Skipton, 3 miles (5 km) north-west from Keighley and just south of the A629 road. The village is part of Steeton with Eastburn civil parish.

In 1965 the track record was broken by greyhound called Rusty after he recorded a time of 29.05 secs. It is alleged within the greyhound industry that this greyhound was actually a greyhound called 'Hi Joe' who was famously stolen at the time from the (NGRC) licensed kennels of Noreen Collin and had won a prestigious competition called the Juvenile and was one of the favourites for the 1965 English Greyhound Derby. [5] [4] [6]

The Juvenile is a greyhound racing competition held annually at Owlerton Stadium.

The 1965 Greyhound Derby took place during June with the final being held on 26 June 1965 at White City Stadium. The winner was Chittering Clapton and the winning owners, father and son, Victor Leah and Peter Leah received £5,000.

Closure

The track was open for nearly thirty years before closing on 24 December 1974 due to new Airevalley Road proposals. Today the Airevalley Road (A650) which opened in 1988 covers what would have been the south part of the stadium and a local football ground covers the north part of the stadium (this football ground is sometimes mistakenly assumed that it was the exact position of the stadium). [3]

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References

  1. ↑ "Parkwood Greyhound Stadium". flickr.
  2. ↑ "OS Plan 1962". old-maps.co.uk.
  3. 1 2 Barnes, Julia (1988). Daily Mirror Greyhound Fact File. Ringpress Books. ISBN   0-948955-15-5.
  4. 1 2 3 Furby, R (1968). Independent Greyhound Racing. New Dominion House.
  5. ↑ Genders, Roy (1981). The Encyclopedia of Greyhound Racing. Pelham Books Ltd. ISBN   07207-1106-1.
  6. ↑ Barnes, Julia (1991). Daily Mirror Greyhound Fact File. Ringpress Books. ISBN   0-948955-61-9.
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