A little more than 100 years ago Bristol had almost no purpose-built places to watch sports such as football, rugby and cricket.

Large sporting venues appeared from the late 1800s, when public transport improved and the Factory Acts gave the working classes time to both play and watch league sports.

Twenty-six acres of farmland was purchased in 1888 at Ashley Down by a committee of the members of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, to furnish it with a home. The club had been formed in 1870, but had lacked a permanent site for its team and its new ground was completed in 1889.

Towards the end of the 1800s Association Football saw a huge rise in popularity and in Bristol as in many other industrial cities many football clubs were formed. Land in the vicinity of the gasworks at Eastville was purchased in 1896/7 that was to become the home of Bristol Rovers and Ashton Gate, the first permanent home of Bristol City F.C., was built on the western edge of Bedminster and opened in 1904.

Venues for other sports soon followed. The Memorial Ground was officially opened in 1921, as a home for Bristol Rugby Club and later Knowle Greyhound Stadium in 1927 with a speedway track a year later.

Some of these early venues still survive, while others have been developed or lost.