A GOOD INNINGS
Left: The Prospectus for the Wiltshire County Ground Company
The new County Ground proved to be a popular investment opportunity and construction on the site began soon afterwards. On 13 May 1893 the ground was officially opened by the local M. P. Walter Long when a reported 8,000 people turned out to see a cycle and athletics meeting.
At that time structures at the County Ground consisted of a cricket pavilion on the north side, complete with gable ends and an elevated seating area and a double-sided ' grandstand ' to the south of the cricket ground that afforded views of both the cricket and cycling( to the north) and the football and polo( to the south). In reality this building was a smaller pavilion that housed dressing rooms and other facilities with exits on both sides.
Below: An illustration from a newspaper reporting the opening of the County Ground in 1893. The main cricket pavilion is at the top centre of the picture, with the smaller dual-aspect aspect pavilion shown bottom left. A plan of the County Ground site is centre bottom
4 Groundtastic- The Football Grounds Magazine