Lillie Bridge Grounds

Location of the Lillie Bridge Athletic Ground, adjacent to the railway line close to West Brompton station. (Click to enlarge).
The then newly opened Stamford Bridge can be seen a little to the south ("London Athletics Club"). Detail from Charles Booth's 1889 descriptive map of London.

The Lillie Bridge Grounds was a sports ground on the Fulham side of West Brompton, London. It opened in 1866, coinciding with the opening of West Brompton station.[1][2] It was named after the local landowner, Sir John Scott Lillie (1790–1868) and the Lillie bridge over the West London Line, that links Old Brompton Road with Lillie Road. The grounds were adjacent to the railway on the south side of Lillie Road. Although geographically near to present day Stamford Bridge, there was never direct access, there being the 13 acre now defunct Western Hospital site between the two.[3] The ground was the scene in its day of many sports including athletics, boxing, cricket, cycling and football, and hosted the FA Cup Final in 1873. It closed in 1888 following a riot reported in The Times.[4]

  1. ^ Denny, Barbara (1997). Fulham Past. London: Historical Publications. p. 126. ISBN 0-948667-43-5.
  2. ^ 'The Kensington Canal, railways and related developments', in Survey of London: Volume 42, Kensington Square To Earl's Court, ed. Hermione Hobhouse (London, 1986), pp. 322–338. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol42/pp322-338, fn55 [accessed 15 October 2016].
  3. ^ The Western Fever Hospital, Fulham. http://www.workhouses.org.uk/MAB-WFever/
  4. ^ Victorian London – Crime – Violence, Murders and Assaults – Riots http://www.victorianlondon.org/crime1/riots.htm