#5 Newcastle United – St. James’ Park – Capacity 52,405
St James’ Park is one of the iconic grounds of the North East of England. The ground was originally the home of three clubs – Newcastle Rangers, Newcastle West End and lastly, Newcastle East End. The East End club changed their name to Newcastle United while they were in residence in 1892.
During those Victorian years in North East England, S. James’ Park was simply a patch of land primarily meant for grazing farm animals on. It also had a huge slope from one end to the other (a drop of 18 feet) that made playing football from the North to the South goal extremely challenging!
The local butchers were also allowed to walk their livestock on the ‘pitch’ before they were led away to the abattoir.
The references to blood and gore don’t end there. Did you know that the reason one side of the stadium is called the Gallowgate end, is that St James’ Park is extremely close to the spot of the City’s execution gallows. The final documented hanging took place there in 1844. Barely 40 years before Newcastle Rangers started playing on the park.
Fortunately for the Geordie club, the park land has been subsequently built on and expanded many times into the magnificent stadium that we see today.
