Cressing Road

Cressing Road stands in Braintree, Essex, as the home ground of Braintree Town Football Club. The stadium began life in 1923 as a general sports ground built by Crittall Windows Company for its works sports day. The first football match followed soon after, when Crittall Athletic beat Great Leighs four goals to none. A quarter-mile cinder track surrounded the pitch, and a 400-seat grandstand opened the following year. The ground hosted major cup finals in the 1920s and 1930s, drawing crowds of up to six thousand. Tottenham Hotspur once visited for a friendly and won eight goals to one in front of another four-thousand crowd. Floodlights arrived in 1967, and greyhound racing began the same year on an independent flapping track around the pitch. After years of decline the stadium was rebuilt in the 1980s and again in 2011–12, when new floodlights and terraces raised its grading for promotion play-offs. Today the ground has four distinct areas. The Main Stand holds 553 seats under cover, while the Clubhouse End and Quag End each offer uncovered terraces. The Cressing Road side terrace seats 1,130, most of it covered. The pitch remains surrounded by the remains of the old greyhound track, a reminder of the stadium’s varied past.