Burnden Park

Burnden Park was the home of English football club Bolton Wanderers who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the 1901 FA Cup Final replay, it was the scene in 1946 of one of the greatest disasters in English football, and the subject of an L. S. Lowry painting. It was demolished in 1999.

Location

Situated on Manchester Road in the Burnden area of Bolton - less than a mile from the town centre - the ground served as the home of the town's football team for 102 years. It also hosted the replay of the 1901 FA Cup Final, in which Tottenham Hotspur beat Sheffield United 3-1.

History

Bolton Wanderers was formed in 1874 as Christ Church FC, with the vicar as club president. After disagreements about the use of church premises, the club broke away and became Bolton Wanderers in 1877 meeting at the Gladstone Hotel. At this time Bolton played at Pike's Lane but needed a purpose built ground to play home matches. As a result, Bolton Wanderers Football and Athletic Club, one of the 12 founder members of the Football League, became a Limited Company in 1894 and shares were raised to build a ground. Land at Burnden was leased at £130 per annum and £4,000 raised to build the stadium. Burnden Park was completed in August 1895. The opening match was a benefit match against Preston and the first League match was against Everton in front of a 15,000 crowd.

Burnden

Coordinates: 53°33′50″N 2°24′46″W / 53.563932°N 2.412723°W / 53.563932; -2.412723

Burnden is a district in the town of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. It is located about 1 mile (2 km) southeast of Bolton town centre and the same distance north of Great Lever.

Historically a part of Lancashire, Burnden derives its name from two Old English words. The first part "burn" means a stream or a brook and is more popularly used in the Scottish Lowlands. The second part "dene" or "denu" means a valley. Combined together they mean a brook flowing through a valley. Burnden Brook was a small tributary of the River Croal, but has since been culverted and now runs beneath Manchester Road.

In the late 18th Century, Burnden was the site of the Burnden Poorhouse which was used by many townships of the parishes of Bolton le Moors and Deane to house their paupers.

For just over a hundred years Burnden was the site of Burnden Park, the home of Bolton Wanderers. The area was described as a ghost town after the stadium, the Normid superstore and the greyhound track closed in quick succession in the late 1990s.