EPW005453 ENGLAND (1921). The County Ground at Ashley Down, Bristol, from the east, 1921

This picture was taken before the start of the 1921 season, only three years after the end of the Great War, which had left the finances of several counties, including Gloucestershire, in a parlous state. During the war, the GCCC had sold the ground to Messrs. J.S.Fry & Sons, and since the resumption of county fixtures in 1919 that firm had generously allowed the County free use of the playing area for a limited number of matches each season. Gloucestershire also played their home games at Cheltenham, Clifton and Gloucester. The view above, along with the accompanying images from different vantage points, indicates the relative lack of seated accommodation, apart from the pavilion and members' area at the far end of the ground.

In 1932, the club was in a position to re-purchase the ground on favourable terms and throughout the remainder of the decade was able to improve the facilities at Ashley Down until the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. Further improvements were subsequently to take place from the 1950s and the writer of this comment has happy memories of both watching and playing (for Bristol University and Bristol Under 23s)on the County Ground in the mid-1960s.