RESCUE MISSION 9

 Smallford Speedway

Our series of locations with a shortage of publicly available photographs with buildings and sites in their early days is quite extensive; in many cases we have already passed the point of no return.  Buildings can change their functions of course, but what if the site contained no permanent building in the first place?  Yes, it might offer the opportunity to explore some archaeology courtesy of the current land owner, but that is very different from a photograph.

East of Notcutt's Garden Centre at Smallford was a site with an entrance directly from the Hatfield Road about which almost no-one has any memory.  There is a public footpath leading from the road northwards past the Radio Estate and you could walk the path and fail to point to a clue that large numbers of people had once gathered there.

Footpath from Hatfield Road northwards towards the former Radio Station, now the Radio Estate.

But in the decade leading up to 1939 you might have occasionally spotted a panelled advertisement in the Herts Advertiser similar to the one below.  This was a period in which motor-cycle speedway races were popular, and no doubt large numbers of St Albans' residents walked along the main road to enjoy an afternoon excitedly watching motorcyclists careering around an oval track in pursuit of a trophy or other prize.

COURTESY THE HERTS ADVERTISER

It was quite "a thing" pre-war and many towns had their own clubs in the same way most towns of any size were proud to own their own local football clubs.

Modern aerial photographs still indicate the location, and the size and shape of the field used for speedway at Smallford, as shown in the photograph below, courtesy Google Earth.   Next to the boundary of the garden centre is the above mentioned footpath; to the right of which is a field within a field and beyond that is the former homestead of Popefield Farm.  The vegetation growing in the field within is scrubby, but indicates the location of  the speedway track.

Notcutt's Garden Centre is in the bottom left corner, east of which is a footpath.  Hatfield Road
passes across the bottom of the photo towards Popefield Farm.  In between is the
scrubby area which used to be the Smallford Speedway track.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

The infrastructure was known to have been minimal, and on the eastern side was a raised platform, perhaps covered.  Not much else.

St Albans may have punched above its weight for the time, but its closure undoubtedly came about rather suddenly because of the onset of the Second World War, rather than a loss of interest among spectators or competitors.  It seems the site has remained unused ever since, although the home ground for the Eastbourne club is still operational at Arlington just outside the town, is floodlit, and until recently still ran meetings for stock-car racing.  It had opened for speedway in the same year, 1929, as Smallford.

Still-open Arlington Stadium near Hailsham/Eastbourne.
COURTESY ARLINGTON STADIUM

Of all the unusual or rare images surviving in our Rescue Mission series, the most difficult to find has been this location; in fact not a single example has yet to be discovered!

Unless, of course a blog reader knows otherwise!

Near Cell Barnes Lane was an example of a less formal vehicular sport, cycle speedway.  Fortunately we do have examples of this short-lived entertainment, courtesy of Bill Gadsby who provided photographs, and evidence of programmes which were available.

Post-war cycle speedway at Cell Barnes before modern development.
COURTESY BILL GADSBY