The Dell

The Dell stands on Milton Road in Southampton, a narrow valley once crossed by the Rollsbrook stream. In 1898 the valley was drained and levelled to create a football ground for Southampton FC. The natural banks around the pitch held standing terraces and small covered stands. By the 1920s two main stands designed by Archibald Leitch framed the ground. A German bomb in 1940 left an eighteen-foot crater on the pitch during the Second World War. The stadium became famous for football milestones. In 1950 it was the first English ground with permanent floodlights. A crowd of more than thirty-one thousand watched a First Division match in 1969. Southampton won the FA Cup in 1976 and finished second in the league in 1984. The ground hosted an England international in 1901 and hosted top-flight football for most seasons until 2001. Visitors to the site today see a quiet green space where the pitch once lay. The old West Stand’s concrete frame still stands behind the north side. A stone culvert carries the buried Rollsbrook through the dell. Concrete terraces at both ends mark where the Milton Road and Chapel stands rose. The dell’s slopes and the surviving stands recall a century of matches and memories.