Hamlet Croft** was a sports field near the centre of Haverhill, it was in an area bordered on two sides by an old railway line and the Hamley Road. The ground had a twelve feet slope which was not levelled until the early 1960s. Hamley Croft was used for shows and athletic sports from the 1870s. Haverhill bicycle Club formed in 1887, D Gurteen jnr was the president and P Newman the captain, it did not seem to last very long.
The Haverhill Autumn Bank Holiday Gala and Athletic Sports meeting was first held 1st August 1887 at which there was an attendance of over 5,000 people, many transported to Haverhill by special trains. The meeting included a flower show, running and bicycle races, pony races and a tug-of-war, the sports prizes were to the value of £80. The bicycle races were a local two miles handicap and open one and three miles handicap races. R Howes won the one and three miles races and TJ Mason won the two miles local race. The amusements included Thurston's steam circus and a rifle gallery; there were two bands. The festivities carried on in the evening with a promenade concert and dancing, finishing with a display of fireworks.
The meetings became the town's largest annual summer festival, usually with crowds of over 5,000. The police generally reported that there was very little trouble at the events.
The 1989 sports were even more successful with 12,000 people paying their entrance money. The most spectacular amusement was "The marvelous leap for life" which was a balloon made of silk, that was filled by connecting a gas pipe from the local gas works, half a mile away. At six o'clock the balloon rose to 2,500 feet with the aeronaut Captain Orton.^ He then emerged from the balloon basket onto a trapeze and eventually jumped off, falling to earth and opened his parachute, descending gracefully into the cricket field.
The August Bank Holiday sports continued in much the same format for the rest of the 1890s with attendances of around 6,000. The popular spectacles were novel aerial acts and gas balloons; amusements included Thurston and Barker's steam gondolas and a railway tunnel. The Sports Committee decided that there would be no bicycle racing at the 1907 meeting, but cyclists were back the following year.
At the 25th Anniversary sports in 1911, proceedings commenced with a procession headed by the Haverhill Brass Band, leading decorated cars and the fancy-dress competitors on to the ground. The half and one mile open bicycle handicap races were won by SH Hutson of Wisbech AHCC and JA Hickling of Heybridge CC won the three laps scratch race. The band played for dancing in the evening which was followed by a fireworks display including a grand set piece portrait of King George V.
Haverhill Rovers Football Club played on Hamlet Croft from 1913, after moving from the Seven Acres ground. Hamlet Croft was then the property of the Haverhill Co-operative Society and the football club rented the ground for £10 a year before purchasing the freehold in 1926. Haverhill Cricket Club also played at the ground.
At the 1924 sports there was a record attendance of 12,195 and HF Rugman of Colchester Rovers won the half and one mile open handicap races and the three laps scratch race. There was a balloon ascent and parachute descent by Captain Percival Spencer, who filled his gas balloon from the town supply using 400 feet of piping. By 1927 the Haverhill sports was recognised as the premier sports meeting across the Eastern Counties.
At the 1931 meeting Luton Wheelers riders managed to win seven of the nine prizes in the bicycle races, with Charlie Cole, G Riggs and M Burton winning their events. In later years, the track was changed from 5 to 4½ laps to the mile.
The 1938 gala was the 45th edition of the event and the Haverhill Echo commented that the event had been held every August Bank Holiday at Hamlet Croft, with the exception of the Great War and a single lapse in 1934. The 1938 event included a baby show and the entertainment included a diving display from a sixty foot platform into a tank with five feet of water.
During the Second World War, the London Irish Rifles and other army companies were garrisoned in the town and several Nissan huts appeared on Hamlet Croft. The sports were started again after the war in 1952 and they attracted 4,000 people. There was a small amount of cycle racing, but the emphasis was on novelty and entertainment, which was provided by the Dare Partners motorcycle display act.
There was a break in cycle racing at Hamlet Croft, during which the ground was levelled at a cost of £3,500. The Autumn Bank Holiday Sports returned in 1961 with an attendance of 6,000, there were good performances in the cycle races from John Aslin, Colin Armstrong and Gerald Coles who won the Easter Counties 5 miles championship race. Unfortunately grass track racing at Hamlet Croft seemed to stop after 1961.
Hamlet Croft continued to be used for sports and Haverhill FC remained there until 2010. The local council succeeded in obtaining grants in 2009, to help build a new sports facility known as the New Croft ground, on Chalkstone Way at Haverhill, this cost a total of £1.95M. To raise money, the local authority sold Hamlet Croft for housing development in 2010 and Haverhill FC moved to the new ground.
* Daniel Gurteen (1719-1780) was a Master Weaver, who controlled the work done by weavers in their own homes, supplying the raw materials to them and selling the finished products. He specialised in weaving fustian material which was used for making agricultural smocks, known as Drabbets. The Gurteen family constructed housing for workers, including the listed Weaver's Row, which were blocks of twelve, three-storey houses, the middle floor containing the loom, which enabled weavers to work at home. The family were also benefactors to the town, they built the Congregational church, the school and the Town Hall, which provided local workers with a reading room, a library, lecture spaces, and concert facilities.
** The ownership of Hamlet Croft is unclear, up to 1877, but C Roberts and E Unwin were credited by organisations whenever it was used, but they were probably trustees. After this, the use of Hamlet Croft was credited to D Gurteen and in 1889 Mrs Simpson was credited for the use of the ground. At some point (probably 1913) Haverhill Co-operative Society owned the ground and then the Town Council took it over in the 1940s.
^ Captain Orton was a popular parachutist at summer fetes in the area. The Aberdeen Weekly Journal gave this account of an accident that happened to Captain Orton's assistant in 1895. Miss Adelaide Bassett, a London parachutist, was killed in Peterborough yesterday evening. In connection with a fete there had been arranged a balloon ascent and a double parachute descent by Captain Orton and Miss Bassett. The latter's parachute was broken by a telephone wire on the balloon being released, and as she had consequently no means by which to descend, she jumped from the balloon to the ground and was killed.
