sp05
Rugby, Football
Brewery Field
54.704476, -1.599230
Spennymoor
Opened:
1884
Closed:
Open
Condition:
Home Teams/Clubs:
Last Updated:
4 Sept 2023
Tudhoe Football Club, Spennymoor United, Spennymoor Town
HER Description
NEHL - The Brewery Field is a historic sports ground at Tudhoe, and is currently the home ground for Spennymoor United.
The ground first opened around 1884 as the home of the now defunct Tudhoe Rugby Club. Their first AGM was held at the Grand Hotel in 1885, which provides us an insight into their leadership structure upon inception. Their president was Mr Patrick Bruce Junor, a Durham brewer who operated the brewery next door. Junor was born in Scotland and worked at a brewery at Houghton le Spring. There, he played for the local rugby club. He later played for Durham City Rugby Club while working at the West End Brewery in the city. He founded the Tudhoe club with local ironmongers and pitmen, while also introducing curling to the town, likely next to the bicycle track.
The club played a number of local teams intensely, including West Hartlepool and Hartlepool Rovers. It does not appear they played in any leagues, which may be the cause of their downfall in 1904.
From there, the lease transferred to Spennymoor United, formed after an amalgamation of old Spennymoor Town and Weardale Ironopolis. Spennymoor Town itself was formed from two church teams in 1890, and Weardale Ironopolis came about in 1901 after a formation of the workers at the Weardale Iron & Coal Works. They played in the Mid Durham League during their first season at the ground, and later the Northern League. They saw success over multiple decades, willing the North Eastern League, Northern League, Northern Counties East League and Northern Premier League Challenge Cup here. The team folded in 2005.
Spennymoor Town FC were born out of the old club and retained use of the Brewery Field. They have played here since.
The Brewery Field was also the site of workmens demonstrations in the earliest decades of use during the early emergence of union movements.
A number of photographs can be seen here: https://www.durhamweb.org.uk/tslhs/tslhsleisure.html
Ordnance Survey, 1897
Brewery Field next to a substantial new housing development in the 1940s. Source: Google Earth
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Historic Environment Records
Durham/Northumberland: Keys to the Past
Tyne and Wear: Sitelines
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