Huge 50,000 stadium that we shared with Catford Southend for a season during the 20's. I just wondered if any photos exist of the ground. Apparently the stadium was demolished sometime after the end of the second world war.
Was my stamping ground as a kid....part of the terracing is still there (a grass bank actually), I used to play cricket for my school on what was once the pitch.
Can't recollect having seen any photos of the old stadium though.
Johnny Summers used to walk his whippet (Kim) in there every day back in the late 50's early 60's.
My Grandad was captain of Catford. When Charlton moved in (briefly) it completely ruined the Catford club. He wasn't happy and would grumble about CAFC wrecking his club. He still supported Charlton though, mainly as an armchair fan.
Re: Lost Grounds of South London Post by eastdevongull on Jan 23, 2009, 4:40pm
The layout of The Mount (Charlton Athletic) shown in Paul Smith's 'Ultimate Directory....' (as shown by Barton Downs above) is in fact incorrect.... I spent alot of time at The Mount when I lived down the road in Ladywell Village and my ex-wife's grandfather, who lived in Catford, told me about the ground and how the park was still there. He also explained the layout of it, having been to a game there himself, so I took some pictures and then using Multimap worked out how the original Catford ground had been banked and re orientated. I passed this info onto Paul but it was too late to put in the revised edition so we got it into Groundtastic magazine, a copy of which follows this (By the way, i'm obviously the Leigh mentioned in the article!)
Re: Lost Grounds of South London Post by bartondowns on Jan 24, 2009, 12:09am
Budleigh, thanks for your postings on this and other threads. I had a sneaky feeling the football grounds of London would spark some interest but I never imagined just how much.
I see there's a mention of Charlton having plans for an 80,000 capacity at the Mount. That figure is amazing - how would they ever draw such a number? - and then you realise they once had 75,000 at The Valley. It's nearly thirty years since I've been to The Valley but I'm glad I stood on that enormous old East Bank.Re: Lost Grounds of South London Post by eastdevongull on Jan 24, 2009, 7:19am
It amazes me how many people have in interest in old grounds... Just look at the books on them now published and the success of Groundtastic magazine. I'm going to find my picture of the bit of terracing from the Invicta ground of Arsenal and pop it on here. It's not great as the Indian chap who lived in the house in whose garden it is in wouldn't let me in so I did it over a wall. It was so frustrating because i knocked on the garden gate and he opened it and there was this six steps of concrete terracing just there in front of me and he shut the gate in my face. I assume I wasn't the only one who told him his house was built on the goal mouth!When I lived in London I used to watch Charlton all the way through their exile and still try and go and see a game 3 or 4 times a year if possible, United games permitting... I'll also put the ariel pic of the mount on here beacause, even after all these years, you can still pick out the dry bits of ground that appear to be where the pitch was, and from the air you can see how it could be so big...Re: Lost Grounds of South London Post by eastdevongull on Jan 25, 2009, 9:43am
This photo shows the position of the Charlton ground at The Mount, the 'footballer' is near enough on what I believe was the centre circle and if you look carefully you can make out the dimensions of a pitch in the dried grass. The banking at the top right was where the terracing was. The Catford ground, as seen in the map previously, was in the corner but was built up when the new ground was set up and so has a large bank through it, but if you look closely you can see a curved path in the bottom left hand, this was the corner of the catford pitch. It's difficult to see how this works without visiting but i'll pop a picture on in a sec showing the view from the top of the terracing looking down on the Charlton pitch, and across to where the catford ground was...
Re: Lost Grounds of South London Post by eastdevongull on Jan 25, 2009, 9:48am
This picture shows the view from the top of the banked terracing built up when Charlton moved to the ground and is a view across the pitch from the top goal, the Catford ground was at the far end but lower as originally this bit of ground swept down to it and wasn't banked up...
talking of old stadiums, i was at the Toronto Maple Leaf's original ice hockey stadium on Friday, I stood on the centre spot where games bullied (?) off for nigh on 60 years from the early 30's onwards - the centre spot was painted onto the floor
it was roughly 3/4 of the way down the pasta sauce/tinned vegetables aisle at the swanky supermarket that was built in it's place!
talking of old stadiums, i was at the Toronto Maple Leaf's original ice hockey stadium on Friday, I stood on the centre spot where games bullied (?) off for nigh on 60 years from the early 30's onwards - the centre spot was painted onto the floor
it was roughly 3/4 of the way down the pasta sauce/tinned vegetables aisle at the swanky supermarket that was built in it's place!
Could be worse, there could a Sainsburys at one of the ground.
I used to go to Mountsfield Park regularly when I was a kid - we lived in Catford and my nan lived in Hither Green. I remember the bits of crumbling concrete but had no idea until much later that it was the remnants of our former ground.
Strange that there doesn't appear to be any pictures of the ground.
There are a couple of photos in the Football Grounds of South East London - A visual History by Mike Floate (Newlands Photographic ISBN 1 900257) £12.95
Certainly doesn't look like a 50,000 stadium from the limited pictures in there.
Also Catford Velodrome which looked a lot bigger but went much earlier.
Worth buying the book for the rare Valley photos plus the Park View Road, Hayes Lane, Eltham Town, Slade Green, Belevedere, Metrogas grounds etc etc.
I fell off my first bike down that path leading around the pitch, Lived in Fordel Road and then Brownhill Road until I was 8, weird to think that Charlton played there 80 years ago
As Henry pointed out earlier, it seems very doubtful that it was a ground that could hold 50,000, and now the first article has inflated that to "50,000 seat". The Wikipedia page for Catford Southend suggests about 10,000, which I suspect is nearer the mark
Just like @SoundAsa£before me I played football and cricket for my school on that area where the stadium once stood..there is absolutely no way you could build something there to house 50,000 people standing,seated or otherwise..as mentioned before nearer 10,000...
My grandfather & my dad used to walk to the ground from their house in Crantock Rd. My dad took my brother & me at the start of the 1963/64 season, the year Eddie Firmani returned from Italy. We've been going to every match since.
Richard Redden used to say that he'd never found a photo of Charlton playing there, the nearest I've seen is a picture of some people working on the construction of it.
The site of the Mount is used for the Catford parkrun course - it can get very boggy there, so heaven knows what it was like when there were stands. Some bits of terracing were still there until about 20 years ago.
Just like @SoundAsa£before me I played football and cricket for my school on that area where the stadium once stood..there is absolutely no way you could build something there to house 50,000 people standing,seated or otherwise..as mentioned before nearer 10,000...
Ditto. I went to school next door to the park and spent my entire childhood playing up there (split with Forster Park) and I can only imagine 10,000 tops. Deep forestry surrounds it and it was always quite sodden around there in the winter months.
I believe there are no pictures of the ground "in action" which is remarkable. They would certainly have existed and maybe they will turn up one day when someone clears out an attic.
From various books and articles, the below should give a decent overview of the layout. In blue was the original Catford Southend ground location. When CAFC moved in, the ground was repositioned and a new stadium constructed, using earth banks on two sides (still visible) and stands on stilts on the other sides where the ground dropped away. The position of the pitch in the CAFC ground is evident in this photo.
That RAF pic of The Valley is great - never seen that one before - thanks.
As well as the repairs to the Covered End roof, it looks like the weird bit of terracing that eventually ended up behind the north west floodlight pylon took a bit of a hit as well.
Some of the rancid toilet blocks are clearly visible.
The top of the South (Laundry) terrace looks like its still overgrown as it was in the famous photo of the air raid watcher.
Comments
Was my stamping ground as a kid....part of the terracing is still there (a grass bank actually), I used to play cricket for my school on what was once the pitch.
Can't recollect having seen any photos of the old stadium though.
Johnny Summers used to walk his whippet (Kim) in there every day back in the late 50's early 60's.
Post by eastdevongull on Jan 23, 2009, 4:40pm
The layout of The Mount (Charlton Athletic) shown in Paul Smith's 'Ultimate Directory....' (as shown by Barton Downs above) is in fact incorrect.... I spent alot of time at The Mount when I lived down the road in Ladywell Village and my ex-wife's grandfather, who lived in Catford, told me about the ground and how the park was still there. He also explained the layout of it, having been to a game there himself, so I took some pictures and then using Multimap worked out how the original Catford ground had been banked and re orientated. I passed this info onto Paul but it was too late to put in the revised edition so we got it into Groundtastic magazine, a copy of which follows this (By the way, i'm obviously the Leigh mentioned in the article!)
Post by bartondowns on Jan 24, 2009, 12:09am
Budleigh, thanks for your postings on this and other threads. I had a sneaky feeling the football grounds of London would spark some interest but I never imagined just how much.
I see there's a mention of Charlton having plans for an 80,000 capacity at the Mount. That figure is amazing - how would they ever draw such a number? - and then you realise they once had 75,000 at The Valley. It's nearly thirty years since I've been to The Valley but I'm glad I stood on that enormous old East Bank.
Re: Lost Grounds of South London
Post by eastdevongull on Jan 24, 2009, 7:19am
It amazes me how many people have in interest in old grounds... Just look at the books on them now published and the success of Groundtastic magazine. I'm going to find my picture of the bit of terracing from the Invicta ground of Arsenal and pop it on here. It's not great as the Indian chap who lived in the house in whose garden it is in wouldn't let me in so I did it over a wall. It was so frustrating because i knocked on the garden gate and he opened it and there was this six steps of concrete terracing just there in front of me and he shut the gate in my face. I assume I wasn't the only one who told him his house was built on the goal mouth!When I lived in London I used to watch Charlton all the way through their exile and still try and go and see a game 3 or 4 times a year if possible, United games permitting...
I'll also put the ariel pic of the mount on here beacause, even after all these years, you can still pick out the dry bits of ground that appear to be where the pitch was, and from the air you can see how it could be so big...
Re: Lost Grounds of South London
Post by eastdevongull on Jan 25, 2009, 9:43am
This photo shows the position of the Charlton ground at The Mount, the 'footballer' is near enough on what I believe was the centre circle and if you look carefully you can make out the dimensions of a pitch in the dried grass. The banking at the top right was where the terracing was. The Catford ground, as seen in the map previously, was in the corner but was built up when the new ground was set up and so has a large bank through it, but if you look closely you can see a curved path in the bottom left hand, this was the corner of the catford pitch. It's difficult to see how this works without visiting but i'll pop a picture on in a sec showing the view from the top of the terracing looking down on the Charlton pitch, and across to where the catford ground was...
Re: Lost Grounds of South London
Post by eastdevongull on Jan 25, 2009, 9:48am
This picture shows the view from the top of the banked terracing built up when Charlton moved to the ground and is a view across the pitch from the top goal, the Catford ground was at the far end but lower as originally this bit of ground swept down to it and wasn't banked up...
it was roughly 3/4 of the way down the pasta sauce/tinned vegetables aisle at the swanky supermarket that was built in it's place!
Could be worse, there could a Sainsburys at one of the ground.
Certainly doesn't look like a 50,000 stadium from the limited pictures in there.
Also Catford Velodrome which looked a lot bigger but went much earlier.
Worth buying the book for the rare Valley photos plus the Park View Road, Hayes Lane, Eltham Town, Slade Green, Belevedere, Metrogas grounds etc etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mount_(stadium)
https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/aerial-photos/record/raf_106g_uk_1356_v_5478#
You can see it was a large area though. There appears to be two pitches marked out within the perimeter area.
Edited to add: Here's the link to the Valley from the same period. You can clearly see the repaired bit of roof following the bomb damage.
https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/aerial-photos/record/raf_cpe_uk_2103_v_5176
From various books and articles, the below should give a decent overview of the layout. In blue was the original Catford Southend ground location. When CAFC moved in, the ground was repositioned and a new stadium constructed, using earth banks on two sides (still visible) and stands on stilts on the other sides where the ground dropped away. The position of the pitch in the CAFC ground is evident in this photo.
As well as the repairs to the Covered End roof, it looks like the weird bit of terracing that eventually ended up behind the north west floodlight pylon took a bit of a hit as well.
Some of the rancid toilet blocks are clearly visible.
The top of the South (Laundry) terrace looks like its still overgrown as it was in the famous photo of the air raid watcher.