Gay Meadow

Gay Meadow was the home ground of Shrewsbury Town football club in Shropshire, England. Just outside the town centre, on the banks of the River Severn, it opened in 1910.

The ground closed at the end of the 2006-07 Football League season and the club moved to a new stadium, provisionally titled The New Meadow, on the outskirts of the town.

Local legend says that over 22,000 were inside the stadium for the league match against Wrexham A.F.C on 21 August 1950, although the official figure is given as 16,000. The official record attendance is 18,917, on 26 April 1961 against local rivals Walsall. Because it had only one entrance/exit road, in the years following the Taylor Report the capacity of the ground was reduced from 16,000 to around 8,000.

Early history of Gay Meadow

Centuries before Shrewsbury Town occupied the site, Gay Meadow was known locally for the fairs, carnivals and circuses which took place there. The origin of the name is not entirely clear, although it is widely believed to related to its use for entertainment purposes. An alternative origin states that the land was originally owned by the Gay family.