6 Reading Teams in the FA Cup

[bobbybottler]

Reading Minster - played at Downshire Square (don't know exactly where that means as I can't see how to fit a football pitch into that area), then at Caversham Place Park (i.e. what is now the BBC Monitoring Service place) and then at the Rifle Range at Coley (that's the first field south of Coley).

South Reading - played at Whitley Park Farm and then later at Mr Colebrook's farm - at least one of those is the Cintra Park area.

Cube - Do you know what became of these two clubs?

[The Cube]

Reading Minster - played at Downshire Square (don't know exactly where that means as I can't see how to fit a football pitch into that area),

Maybe behind the Parsonage on what is now Lima Court? All Saints' Church on Downshire Square started as a daughter church of Reading Minster (aka St. Mary's in the town centre), the football team surely must have had a connection.

On the maps of the time there isn't enough space at Lima Court. I suspect it might be the other side of Bath Road, roughly where Harrow Court is. The pitch was also used for cricket so it's not going to be a narrow strip of land.

Having said that, there were some truly bizarre fields used for football in Reading at this time - I have some stuff in preparation on this that I'll put up on my website at some stage.

[The Cube]

Reading Minster - played at Downshire Square (don't know exactly where that means as I can't see how to fit a football pitch into that area), then at Caversham Place Park (i.e. what is now the BBC Monitoring Service place) and then at the Rifle Range at Coley (that's the first field south of Coley).

South Reading - played at Whitley Park Farm and then later at Mr Colebrook's farm - at least one of those is the Cintra Park area.

Cube - Do you know what became of these two clubs?

No - my research is chronological in nature, and at the point I've reached they're still going strong!

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Here's a map of Reading from 1888.



You can't read the street names, sadly, but you can see there was a lot of empty space in the area. The Elm Park area would have pretty much just been open fields.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

actually, this is a better picture of the exact area