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