Clarence Park, St Albans

Clarence Park
Full name	Clarence Park
Location	St Albans
Built	1893-1894
Opened	23 July 1894
Owner	City of St Albans
Capacity	4,500
Tenants
St Albans City F.C. (semi-professional football club) (1908-present)

Clarence Park is a park containing a multi-use stadium in St Albans, England. It is located close to St Albans City railway station.

The park was laid out in early 1894, and comprises a 16-acre (65,000 m²) municipal sports ground and a 9-acre (36,000 m²) public park and pleasure ground. The benefactor, Sir John Maple, the owner of Maple's furniture store in Tottenham Court Road and who lived at nearby Childwickbury, donated the land and paid for the laying out, the planting and the construction of the buildings; the layout of the park itself was designed by the City Surveyor, Mr G. Ford. A striking water fountain, which can still be seen today, was donated by Lady Maple.

The park was opened on 23 July 1894 by the Duke of Cambridge, a member of the British Royal Family, and the event was accompanied by great celebrations in the city of St Albans.

The stadium is currently mostly used for hockey matches and is also the home ground of St Albans City Football Club. The stadium has a capacity of 4,500 people.

The sports ground area includes the stadium plus hockey/tennis areas, whilst the public park includes large grassy areas used for sun bathing and games during summer, a bandstand, a children's play-park and a café. The public park is also used as the site of some of the human "Peopletown" skits on Disney Channel's preschool series Bunnytown.

In the summer, there are regular concerts on the bandstand.

Cricket ground

Cricket pavilion at Clarence Park

Next to the football ground is a cricket ground. The first recorded match played on the cricket ground came in 1875, when Hertfordshire played Somerset.^[1] The first Minor Counties Championship match played on the ground came in 1895 when Hertfordshire played Bedfordshire. From 1895 to 1997, the ground hosted 84 Minor Counties Championship matches^[2] and 2 MCCA Knockout Trophy matches.^[3]

The cricket ground has played host to 2 List-A matches, he first of which came in the 1984 NatWest Trophy between Hertfordshire and Somerset. The second and final List-A match played on the ground came in the 1990 NatWest Trophy between Hertfordshire and Warwickshire.^[4]

The ground also hosted a single match in the 1973 Women's Cricket World Cup, which was contested between New Zealand women and Trinidad and Tobago women.^[5] In local domestic cricket, the ground is the home of St Albans Cricket Club^[6] who play in the Home Counties Premier Cricket League Division Two.

References

1. ^ Other matches played on Clarence Park
2. ^ Minor Counties Championship Matches played on Clarence Park
3. ^ Minor Counties Trophy Matches played on Clarence Park
4. ^ List A Matches played on Clarence Park
5. ^ Women's One-Day International Matches played on Clarence Park
6. ^ St Albans Cricket Club

External links

• City and District of St Albans guide to the park

Coordinates: 51°45′11″N 0°19′26″W / 51.753°N 0.324°W / 51.753; -0.324