Entrance Turnstile Building at Stourbridge War Memorial Athletic Ground

Summary

A sports ground entrance building with turnstiles and payment booths of 1932, donated by Ernest Stevens.

Reasons for Designation

The entrance turnstile at Stourbridge War Memorial Athletic Ground, Amblecote is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural and historic interest: as an accomplished and well-realised part of a war memorial and functional structure, designed by the noted local architect Geoffrey Ince;

* Group value: the turnstile block at Amblecote, placed on line with the entrance axis, forms a group with the Memorial Archway and walling at Stourbridge War Memorial Athletic Ground, Amblecote, which is also recommended for statutory listing;

* Intact survival: the building survives in notably complete form, with its original turnstile mechanisms and architectural detailing intact.

History

The land on which the Stourbridge Athletics Ground is situated was known in the C17 as Gibbon’s Piece and was originally one of the open fields in the manor of Amblecote known as ’Watery Fields’. From the early C19 cricket was played on the ground, under the patronage of the Earl of Stamford, who owned the land. Stourbridge Football Club began using the ground from 1888. In 1927, as a result of the Public Health Act of 1925, the borough bought the land and, following this purchase the Football Club paid for new stands. At the same time, several more of the ground’s buildings, including the entrance archway (opened in 1928), the northern turnstile building (1932) and sports pavilion (1928) were all, to some degree, the gift of Ernest Stevens, a local JP and hollow ware manufacturer, who was a noted philanthropist in Stourbridge. Worcestershire County cricket matches were played here between 1905 and 1981 and the ground is still used by Stourbridge FC.

Details

A sports ground entrance building with turnstiles and payment booths of 1932, donated by Ernest Stevens.

MATERIALS & PLAN: red Ketley brick laid in English bond, with a pantile roof. The turnstile building has six turnstiles arranged in a line, with accompanying payment booths, all forming a single range.

EXTERIOR: the walling of English-bond, red brick. Both sides are symmetrical, with three sets of double plank doors. The east side, which faces the entering crowd, has narrower doors and includes raised bands of brickwork to its lower body, which extend around the flanks of the building, and projecting rectangular panels of brick to the upper body. To the top of the wall is a cast iron gutter which extends around the building, with downpipes attached to the flanks. The west side has wider sets of doors which include the entrances to the cash desks.

INTERIOR: each set of doors leads to a pair of turnstiles with a grille to each side, where the cash desks are placed. The cast iron mechanisms each have circular plates which read: ‘W.T.ELLISON & CO. / LIMITED / ENGINEERS / MANCHESTER'. The outer ring around each plate reads ‘*SOLE MAKERS* / RUSH PREVENTATIVE TURNSTILES’. A pedal in the cash booth releases the mechanism for each of the six turnstiles.

Sources

Books and journals
Inglis, S, Played in Manchester: the architectural heritage of a city at play, (2004), 64-69
Stourbridge War Memorial Athletic Ground in Amblecote History, Vol. 11, (May 2005), 1

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