# Upton Park – The Boleyn Ground – West Ham – London - Dec 2016



## mockney reject (Feb 23, 2017)

_The History_

Stolen from West Hams very own website

West Ham United moved to the stadium now known as the Boleyn Ground or Upton Park as its better known for the start of the 1904/05 season.

The actual stadium was built on a plot of land next to and in the grounds of Green Street House. The field in which the pitch was to be laid was originally used to grow potatoes and cabbages and, as such, the pitch was often referred to by the locals as 'The Potato Field' or 'The Cabbage Patch', while the ground itself was originally named ‘The Castle’ during its initial 1904/05 season.

Initially leased from the Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Authorities - but not before a lengthy debate that saw manager Syd King visit his friend, the influential MP Sir Ernest Gray - the Hammers' new home originally consisted of a small West Stand and covered terrace backing onto Priory Road, along with dressing rooms situated in the north west corner between the West Stand and North Bank.




The Boleyn Ground in 1904

West Ham's first game at their new home was against Millwall on 1 September 1904. It drew a crowd of 10,000, the majority of whom were rewarded as West Ham ran out 3-0 winners.

The ground was developed and improved over the following decades. However, in August 1944 much of that good work was ruined when a German V-1 flying bomb landed on the south-west corner of the pitch. The bomb not only caused severe damage to the ground, but the resulting fire also gutted the Club's offices and destroyed historical records and documents.




War-time damage to the Boleyn Ground

West Ham were forced to play ten war-time matches away from home while repairs were carried out, return in December 1944.

In January 1969, the new East Stand replaced the famous 'Chicken Run' terrace - an area of the ground where fans were stood very close to the pitch, allowing them to make life very uncomfortable for opposition wingers!

The following year, on 17 October 1970, a record league attendance of 42,322 turned out to watch the Hammers draw 2-2 with rivals Tottenham Hotspur in Division One.




The stadium shortly before redevelopment work began

The Boleyn Ground underwent extensive redevelopment work in the early 1990s in the advent of the Taylor Report. In 1993, a new South Stand was opened and named in honour of Club legend Bobby Moore. The Bobby Moore Stand is home to the Club offices.

Two years later, the North Bank was replaced by a 6,000-seat stand initially named the Centenary Stand for obvious reasons, but subsequently re-named in honour of Sir Trevor Brooking in 2009.

The last and largest of the Boleyn Ground stands to be replaced was the West Stand, which was rebuilt as a 15,000-seat structure and opened by HM The Queen in 2001. The new West Stand contains a hotel, executive boxes and other facilities.

West Ham vacated the Boleyn Ground after 112 years in the summer of 2016, when the site will be redeveloped as housing, retail and leisure facilities by the Galliard Group.


_The Explore_


I'm forever blowing bubbles,
Pretty bubbles in the air,
They fly so high,
Nearly reach the sky,
Then like my dreams,
They fade and die.
Fortune's always hiding,
I've looked everywhere,
I'm forever blowing bubbles,
Pretty bubbles in the air.


Ahhh I’m forever blowing bubbles, I can’t remember the first time I heard this song but it was probably my mum singing it to me as a lullaby when I was a kid.


My family come from East London and West Ham was always just one of those things. They moved out of London before I was born but the connection was always there. When I started school and the subject of teams came up I was always a West Ham fan, if we went to see my grandparents my dad would occasionally drive us past the towering stadium.


Sadly I never went to a game there as a kid, Dad didn’t want to take us as it was at the height of some of the worst football violence ever seen.


As I grew up I found other interests and forgot about football. A few years back something sparked that interest and I began following “my team” again. I was lucky last year to have spent the night in the hotel part of the stadium before it shut. The room was pretty cool but the best bit, an awesome view of the pitch.


I’ve had my eye on Upton Park since rumours of it being sold first appeared, I even got as far as checking it with @slayaaaa one night only to find a helicopter in the carpark that was being used as a prop for a new film.


I digress


Myself and @UrbanDuck found ourselves in London and after failing at another site, we decided that Upton Park was kinda on our way home. 


We headed in the general direction and as we got closer we were surprised to see a fair bit of the stadium still standing, after all the various videos of it being pulled down made it look like there was nothing left. 


We turned in Green Street (great film if you haven’t seen it by the way) and there she was Upton Park in all her glory. We did a few laps of the site just to find and entry point and after waiting for various courting couples, drug dealers and taxis to sod off we made our move.


Like Billy Bonds and Bobby Moore our fancy footwork got us inside and towards our goal.


We made our way up into the Sir Trevor Brooking stand and simply sat there taking it all in.


Wow the place seemed even bigger with one complete side of missing. We sat and purveyed the land for a while looking for security and setting up our camera gear. 


We had a good wander around the ground up onto the top tier of seats and through the various corridors and catering areas. I must apologise to UD at this point for spooking him out and forgetting myself by whistling the bubbles song, oooops.


After a good few hours in the ground we decided we had been in there long enough and had probably pushed out luck a little so headed home.


Quite possibly one of my favourite explores even though there wasn’t much to it.


As always enjoy the pics


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## HughieD (Feb 23, 2017)

That's another wicked big smoke report Mockney...


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## Rubex (Feb 23, 2017)

Excellent as always


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## prettyvacant71 (Feb 24, 2017)

You have certainly captured a moment in time...history that will sadly be gone forever

A great set of images MR that I'm sure will be very useful in archiving the past

Oh by the way lol I do hope you mean the first Green Street don't you??? Good gritty film that, the second one filmed in the US is terrible, don't even bother wasting 90mins you won't get it back


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## mockney reject (Feb 24, 2017)

There is only one Green Street film as far as I'm concerned lol


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## smiler (Feb 24, 2017)

A wee bit special that MR, Thanks


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## BikinGlynn (Feb 24, 2017)

Thats interesting to see. Im currently supplying steelwork there for the new apartments, can get u some after shots if u like


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## flyboys90 (Feb 26, 2017)

First class write up and shots.


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## Silent_Master (Sep 27, 2017)

Omg you both was there night on dec last year as i was there daylight sept after you lol. i have got lots of the boleyn ground change room, chairman room, dinner room, hotel room and etc before demolition. i'm long life west ham  great keep up work also your pictures is brilliant only one i like. COYI!!







https://flic.kr/p/BPkwWY
https://flic.kr/p/BPkwJd


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