Burnden Park

Bolton Wanderers was formed in 1874 as Christ Church FC, becoming Bolton Wanderers in 1877. The club became a limited company in 1894 and raised £4,000 to build a new ground, leasing land at Burnden for £130 per annum. Burnden Park was completed in August 1895, with the opening match a benefit against Preston and the first League match against Everton in front of a 15,000 crowd. The stadium hosted the replay of the 1901 FA Cup final, in which Tottenham Hotspur beat Sheffield United 3-1. In its heyday, Burnden Park could hold crowds of up to 70,000, with a record attendance of 69,912 set on 18 February 1933. On 9 March 1946, the Burnden Park disaster occurred during an FA Cup quarter-final second leg tie between Bolton and Stoke City, when 33 Bolton fans were crushed to death and another 400 injured, with an estimated 85,000-strong crowd crammed in. The disaster led to Moelwyn Hughes's official report, which recommended more rigorous control of crowd sizes. The ground was depicted in L. S. Lowry's 1953 painting 'Going to the Match'. By the 1980s, capacity was dramatically reduced due to new safety legislation, and a section of the embankment was sold off in 1986 to make way for a Normid superstore. The club's directors decided by 1992 that it would be difficult to convert Burnden Park into an all-seater stadium. The last game was against Charlton Athletic on 25 April 1997, with Bolton winning 4-1. Bolton moved to the new Reebok Stadium at Middlebrook in Horwich, six miles away. On 20 May 1998, a massive fire destroyed the Manchester Road stand, and the stadium was demolished in 1999.

Burnden Park was Bolton Wanderers' home for 102 years (1895-1997). The ground could hold crowds of up to 70,000 at its peak, with a record attendance of 69,912 set on 18 February 1933. The stadium hosted the replay of the 1901 FA Cup final, in which Tottenham Hotspur beat Sheffield United 3-1. On 9 March 1946, the Burnden Park disaster occurred during an FA Cup quarter-final against Stoke City, when 33 Bolton fans were crushed to death and another 400 injured, with an estimated 85,000-strong crowd crammed in, at least 15,000 more than the ground's capacity. The disaster led to Moelwyn Hughes's official report, which recommended more rigorous control of crowd sizes. The ground was famously depicted in L. S. Lowry's 1953 painting 'Going to the Match'. In 1986, a section of the embankment was sold off to make way for a Normid superstore. The last game was against Charlton Athletic on 25 April 1997, with John McGinlay scoring the final goal in a 4-1 win. On 20 May 1998, a massive fire destroyed the Manchester Road stand. The stadium was demolished in 1999.