Saltergate

Saltergate was Chesterfield Football Club’s ground from 1871 until 2010. It stood near the town centre, surrounded by terraced houses on Saltergate itself. The site began as an open field shared with the cricket club before becoming a proper football ground. A wooden pavilion appeared in the 1870s, and a small stand was built in the 1890s. League football arrived in 1899, followed by a running track and picket fences. The ground hosted Football League games for over a century before the club moved to a new stadium in 2010. The ground’s story includes several notable moments and figures. In 1931, 20,092 spectators watched Chesterfield win promotion to the Second Division. The 1936 main stand, designed by Archibald Leitch, seated 1,600 and set the look of the ground until its closure. The Kop terrace was roofed in 1961, and floodlights finally arrived in 1967. Stuart Basson’s book *Saltergate Sunset* later told the ground’s history. The final match was a League Two game against Bournemouth in May 2010. Visitors today see a quiet residential street where the ground once stood. The road still bears the name Saltergate, but no trace of the stadium remains. The site is now covered by modern housing, built after the ground was demolished in 2012. The only reminders are the street name and the memories of football played there for 139 years. The area feels ordinary now, but the history of Saltergate shaped the town’s sporting life for generations.