ROYAL RESTORATION
The record attendance at the Royal Oak was set for the visit of Romford for a FA Amateur
Cup Quarter Final tie on 19 March 1938 when 5,649 squeezed in for a game won 2-0 by
the visitors. For the game two temporary uncovered stands were put up on either side of
the grandstand, adding an extra 750 seats.
By then War clouds were gathering again and the club ceased formal playing activities,
with the ground requisitioned by the Army. It still found use however, staging games for
the local air raid wardens’ team and military sides, often featuring star name players who
had joined the war effort, such as Ted Drake and Les Compton.
When the Royal Oak was handed back to the club in 1945 it was in a sorry state. The pavil-
ion was reduced to a mere shell, the old grandstand was fire damaged, the pitch grassless
and most other structures were rendered unusable. The club applied for compensation
from the War Department, eventually receiving £2,083, but it took until the start of the
1946/47 season for regular football to make a return to the ground.
In 1947 the club were able to purchase a strip of land between the west side of the Royal
Oak and the neighbouring Isolation Hospital and soon afterwards plans were announced
for a new Main Stand to replace the one built in 1899. Work progressed swiftly, and the
new structure was opened on 13 November 1948 by Stanley Rous, Secretary of the Foot-
ball Association, ahead of an Eastern Counties League game against Ipswich Town ‘A’.
Above: The new grandstand takes shape and the official opening in 1948 as Stanley Rous addresses
the crowd from the front steps of the stand
Costing £2,500, the new Main Stand was an impressive sight, consisting of nine tiers of
concrete steps with wooden benches that could accommodate 560 spectators. The front
row of seats were raised five feet above the ground to enable standing in front and the
roof included a six-foot overhang to provide protection from the elements. The rear of the
stand sat five feet further back than the original stand, utilising the extra land acquired on
that side. The elevation of the seating deck left enough space underneath for the intended
second phase of the development; changing rooms to be built under the stand. Sadly,
these plans were never realised, with the void only ever being used for storage.
Two years later the Royal Oak was enhanced further with the construction of a 136-foot-
long section of concrete terracing at the southern (Dunn’s) end. Sitting off-centre to the
east side, the terrace was 12 feet deep, 6 feet high and comprised eight steps, each with a
nine-inch depth. It was finished off with safety rails along the back and at each end and a
PA/commentary hut perched on top, complete with loudspeakers. The PA hut later served
as a base for live radio broadcasts to patients at the Harwich & District Hospital.
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