Chasewater Stadium never really took off. Image from ‘Memories of Brownhills Past’ by Clarice Mayo and Geoff Harrington.
Thanks to a curious sale on eBay, I can now share exactly when Chasewater Trotting Track opened – it was Monday 16th August, 1971.
Seller bonsuivit is selling an advert apparently cut from a publication of some sort (!) advertising the opening of the stadium for trotting races every Monday and Friday – the advert can be yours for £3.25 including p&p. Er, yeah…
The crap people try and flog on eBay. A seller is selling this advert from a 1971 publication. Fortunately, the picture is useful.
We’ve not found out much about this local curiosity over the years; demolished in the late 1990s to make way for the M6 Toll, Chasewater Stadium was derelict for years, and never really a commercial success. Built by local entrepreneur Oscar Johnson, it seems to have passed through several ownerships, and now the whole site is part of the Chasewater Heaths Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Some have said the stadium itself was secondhand, and purchased from North Wales, possibly Prestatyn. Can anyone clarify this?
The track looking south just after construction. Note the stables, bottom right. Whitehorse Road is on the left, and Pool Road on the right. In 1977, the site would echo to the roar of motorbike engines. Image from ‘Memories of Brownhills Past’ by Clarice Mayo and Geoff Harrington.
Several different approaches were tried over the years to make the place a success, including apparently greyhound races and a fondly remembered long track motorbike race in 1977, but sadly, nothing seemed to save it.
The stadium can be seen in the background to The Stymaster’s Chasewater home movie.
South of Chasewater dam and the M6 Toll, the outline of the track can still be seen on Google Earth to the east of Pool Road.
The ghost of the track is still witnessed in the landscape – local kids often use it for impromptu bicycle races.
I get lots of searches for this stadium, but know little about it, so this great find sheds some light on a quite dim corner of Brownhills history.
If you have any memories of this, pictures or anything else to contribute, do comment here please, or mail me at BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com. Cheers.