NEHL - A horse racecourse can be identified on this site from after the 1850s until the early 1900s. There is little detail to be found on this site apart from contemporary maps and notices of race days in newspapers. There was a small grand on the south east side of the course which bordered what is now West Terrace. An 1875 edition of the York Herald presents details of the "Merrington Stakes" at Spennymoor for both gorses and ponies. The course seems to have been closed by the early 20th century, and subsequently turned into housing.