[18] One of Kent's greatest bowlers, Colin Blythe, made his debut for the county on the Angel Ground in 1899.

[19][20][21] In 1897, the ground became the base for the "Tonbridge Nursery", a player development centre established by Kent to train young professional cricketers.

[23][24] The establishment of the Nursery was one of the key developments that lay the foundations for the successes of the pre-World War I period during which Kent won the County Championship four times between 1906 and 1913.

The Nursery was run by Captain William McCanlis and set up and overseen by Tonbridge man Tom Pawley, who became the club's general manager in 1898.

[24][25][26][27] By 1906 around 60% of all appearances were by professionals, with bowlers such as Colin Blythe and Arthur Fielder forming the core of the Kent attack.

[28] Professional batsmen such as Punter Humphreys, Frank Woolley and James Seymour became an increasing part of Kent's success, coming together with a group of "gifted"[29] amateurs to produce strong batting lineups.

[30] The Nursery began to pay dividends quickly and Kent finished third in the Championship in 1900,[31] and by 1904 The Times was able to call it a "brilliant success".

[6][9] It was used as an Army vehicle park during the Second World War and the trustees of the club decided that the ground would require too much money spent on it to return the pitch to its pre-war condition.

The ground saw its record attendance for Tonbridge's 1951–52 FA Cup first-round tie against Aldershot F.C., when 8,236 supporters watched a 0–0 draw.

A three-year legal battle was fought, eventually reaching the High Court, before the council offered the club a new ground, the Longmead Stadium on the north-western edge of the town.